Dobby's Own Story
by WogglebugLoveProductions
Summary: The mostly hidden side of the story of everyone's favorite house-elf from the beginning of his work at Hogwarts to teh end of it. With a twist before the end.
1. Chapter 1

Dobby was feeling much happier than he had in his whole life for as far back as he could remember he had been a slave to the Malfoy family and had never lived without fearing them especially during the time of Lord Voldemort, and now thanks to Harry Potter he was a free elf. He knew someday he would repay Harry properly, though he had promised Harry he would never try to save his life again he knew he would if he ever had to for he owed his life to Harry.

He now stood beside Albus Dumbledore in the Hogwarts kitchen as he introduced him to the other elves he'd be working with and his happiness became shadowed by nervousness as the elves stared at him with uneasiness and some with his distaste as he was the only one of them dressed in colorful clothes instead of a usual house elf garment.

"My elves," began Dumbledore. "This is Dobby, the former house elf of the Malfoy family. I'm sure some of you may have heard of how he was freed by Harry Potter.

Most of the elves now began to look on him with curiosity and warmth. "Hello, Dobby!" some of them said in unison. Dobby now felt better and his shy smile became a grin.

"Dobby is now in the employment of Hogwarts," continued Dumbledore. "All I ask is that you treat with the respect you treat each other with." Dumbledore then left Dobby alone with his new co-workers.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, Dobby!" said one chubby elf wearing a pale pink pillowcase. "My name is Nifty, and I is very pleased to meet you, I is. Read all about you in the Daily Prophet, I did."

"Dobby, you look so thin and frail," said another elf. "Didn't the Malfoys feed you?"

"Well... Dobby mostly ate whatever was discarded after meals," he admitted slightly embarrassed.

"It's alright, Dobby," Nifty said kindly. "You don't have to talk about your old masters."

"Dobby thanks you, nifty," he said gratefully.

"With your new wages, you'll be fattened as much as nifty, you will!"exclaimed another elf with a harsh laugh.

Nifty shot the elf a look of disapproval and then turned back to Dobby. "Nifty is sure she will like working with you, she is."

"Come on, you all! It's time to start making breakfast, it is!" exclaimed one of the taller elves. So they all at once set off cooking up every kind of breakfast food imaginable.

As Dobby was making cinnamon oatmeal with Nifty they got to know each other more. "Dobby is so glad to finally have found a place to live after looking for so long," he said while mixing in the cinnamon.

"Dobby has no fear of going through underpants around here,"said Nifty taking hold of a wooden spoon.. "Only rules are to try your best at everything, to not get caught around the school after midnight, and to always wash hands before cooking."

"Dobby will try his best, he will," Dobby promised.

Early in the afternoon at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry the students were taking their study break in the comfort of their common rooms while in the kitchens the house elves had just finished baking cookies for them.

Dobby took hold of a large plate full of delicious, freshly made, soft baked, sweet smelling chocolate chip cookies along with a tall glass of fresh cold milk and began to carefully carry them from the kitchens.

Then he wasn't sure exactly what happened a moment later, whether he simply stumbled or had slipped on the newly waxed floor, but whatever the cause he tripped over his own feet and dropped the plate and the glass he was carrying. With a loud yelp he fell on his backside as the sound of shattering glass filled his ears.

He gasped in horror as he sat sprawled out on the kitchen floor and found himself surrounded by broken glass and milk splattered everywhere.

"Dobby is the clumsiest house elf in all of the world, he is!" he exclaimed as tears streamed down his face and he instantly began sobbing, creating a puddle of tears within the puddle of milk.

Dobby was sobbing so loud and hard he quickly caught the attention of the only elf remaining in the kitchen, which was Nifty. She set down her own plate and appeared in front of him.

"Nifty thinks you need Nifty's help," she said. Pointing all her fingers to the mess Dobby had made and uttered _"Unmes-assemblo!" _and instantly the broken glass reassembled itself and was full of fresh milk again and the broken plate pieced itself together and the cookies were in it unharmed.

Dobby at once calmed down and wiped away his tears and smiled at his friend. "Dobby thanks you so much, he does!" He stood up and took the plate and glass again.

"Nifty has learned this bit of magic from watching the students," she said. "I's be grateful if you won't tell anyone I did."

"Of course," he said "and Dobby will be grateful if Nifty doesn't tell anyone about Dobby's little accident."

"Of course," said Nifty "and Nifty will always be here when you need Nifty."

The elves then went in line and and entered into their respective common rooms of their houses. Dobby entered the Gryffindor Common room and began setting the plates of cookies onto the students tables.

Dobby was skipping merrily through the Hogwarts corridors carrying a big basket full of laundry, humming wordlessly to himself. The basket was so far above him he couldn't really watch where he was headed and he consequently bumped into Professor Severus Snape as he was walking out of a classroom and dropped the basket.

"Oh excuse Dobby! Very sorry Professor Snape!" he exclaimed apologetically as he turned the basket upright again and picked up a few garments that had fallen out.

Snape, who was known for his unforgiving nature, only scowled and said, "I should warn you to watch where you step next time because the Headmaster does not like foolish, clumsy elves!"

Then as Snape stormed off Dobby stood still feeling a chill run through him at Snape's cold words. He always did his best, but he wasn't perfect, and just because he made a few mistakes now and then didn't Dumbledore would discharge him... did it?

After a moment he picked up the basket and went solemnly on his way again.

It was later in the afternoon when he was on his way back to the kitchens when he suddenly heard a strange noise from somewhere around him. He looked in every direction but could see nothing, and as he was looking over his shoulder he suddenly felt himself bump into someone very tall and looking up he saw that it looked like Professor Dumbledore, but the eyes were not at all the kind and gentle ones he remembered, they were very hard and cold.

"Dobby, you are the clumsiest elf I have ever seen! I hate clumsy elves!" Dumbledore yelled so loud and angry Dobby was very frightened.

"Dobby is sorry, master Dumbledore!" he exclaimed falling to his knees with tears welling in his eyes. "Forgive Dobby!"

"You've been a bad, bad elf, Dobby!" Dumbledore yelled, his eyes ablaze with fire. "I am going to punish you most severely and banish you from Hogwarts, and then I'm going to punish you again!"

Dobby felt scared, terrified, hurt, and betrayed all at once which was more than a house-elf could bear. "Oh no! Oh no! Dobby has nowhere to go! No! No! No!" he wailed helplessly in torrents of tears.

"Ridi-cu-lous!" He heard a girl's voice cry out from seemingly nowhere. He uncovered his face and to his amazement watched as the figure that looked like Dumbledore's beard twisted around itself and then vanished in a puff of smoke.

"It's alright, Dobby," said the girl, who was Ginny Weasley. "It was only a bogart pretending to be Dumbledore. I've just repelled it the way Professor Lupin taught me last year. Dobby?"

Dobby still sat crouched and trembling on the floor and sobbing pitifully with his hands against his face for he had just had what felt like the scare of his life even if it was only a deception.

"Aw, you poor darling," said Ginny as she knelt beside him and pulled him into a comforting hug. "You have had a bad scare, haven't you?"

Dobby nodded, sniveling in her arms as tears continued to flow down his face. "It just looked like Dumbledore... and... and Professor Snape had said to watch out because Dumbledore doesn't like clumsy elves like me."

"Dumbledore is not like Snape, and he would never discharge you for anything," Ginny assured him, taking a handkerchief from her pocket and wiping the tears from his eyes and face. "A bogart always takes the shape of what you fear the most as it lives on fear," she explained.

"Dobby should have known it couldn't have been Dumbledore," he said, sniffling. "Stupid Dobby!" he rapped himself on the head once.

Ginny shook her head gently and said, "Just remember whenever you see something strange and, or, frightening, just say ridi-cu-lous."

She gave him the handkerchief and he blew his nose which had started to run into it and found it was better than using the pillowcase he used to wear. "Dobby will remember. Ridi-cu-lous! Miss Weasley is a very, very good witch!"

He started to give her back the handkerchief but she shook her head gently again and said, "Keep it, you seem to need it more than I do."

He looked up at her with his big green puppy-dog eyes and smiled. "Dobby thanks you, Miss Weasley. Very generous of you, it is."

"You're welcome," she said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I don't want to be late for Potions."

She hurried off and Dobby tucked the handkerchief into his shirt pocket and went on his way.

Later in the evening as Dobby entered the Griffyndor common room he found Ginny sitting alone in a chair with a very unhappy look on her face as she looked forlornly at an open book, though she seemed to be barely reading it.

Dobby felt very concerned for the young witch who had shown him so much kindness today and approached her. "Why are you so unhappy, Miss Weasley?" he asked softly. "Is something wrong?"

Ginny slowly closed the book and turned towards him. Sighing, she said, "Professor Snape was very mean to me today. We were making the inflating potion today and I mixed it incorrectly, I confused the gillyweed with the smellyweed, they do look so much alike. He said I make for a lousy, incompetent witch and he took five points from Griffyndor. I was never so embarrassed!"

"Dobby is very sorry for you," he said sympathetically. "Snape is very rude to Miss and to Dobby because everyone makes mistakes, like you said."

"I just wish a better teacher than him, like Dumbledore, would tell him and get him to shut up!" she said irritably.

Dobby's big round eyes brightened as an idea came to him just then. "Why don't we get him to shut up ourselves?" he suggested.

"We? What do you mean?" asked Ginny curiously.

"Well, there is bound to be some kind of potion in this book that will make him forget how to speak or something!" He said, looking toward her potions book with a mischievous smile.

"A brilliant idea, Dobby!" she said. "Let's teach him a lesson and see how he likes being embarrassed!"

They looked through the book of potions and decided on a fairly simple one which would cause Snape to have "multi-false voice" and it was as clear as fresh water so the next day during Potions, Dobby sneaked in unnoticed and switched Snape's glass of water with the potion.

Then Dobby quickly apparated into a supply closet as Snape came up to his desk and took a long drink of the potion. Dobby stood still and gleefully waited for Snape to begin speaking.

Soon he heard, "What in serpent's name are you making Mr. Longbottom! This doesn't look anything like – ribbet, ribbet, ribbet!" Snape began croaking like a frog.

Instantly all the students burst into laughter, and in his hiding place Dobby couldn't keep from holding back a chuckle himself.

"What is thi-" Snape's voice changed again and he began to sing in a really bad Italian accent. "Figaro! Figaro! Oh sole mio!"

Once again the students burst into howls of laughter and Dobby's easily blended in with theirs.

"Snape had now become angry. "Who is responsi- His voice changed again and he began singing in a high shrilly feminine voice. "I'm a little teapot, short and stout! Here is my handle, here is my spout! When I get all steamed up hear me shout, tip me over and pour me out!"

Now the students laughter could be heard clear down the hall, and Dobby was laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes.

Snape let out a tormented scream and then exclaimed with a terrible Irish brogue, "Bediah me tinn! I'm gonna be sick! Help!" and clutching at his throat he rushed out of the classroom.

Ginny sat laughing with absolute merriment and she momentarily saw Dobby poke his head out of the closet and wink with a smile at her just before vanishing from sight.


	2. Chapter 2

Dobby woke up just as the sun was first starting to rise. He was as bright-eyed and as fresh as ever as he jumped out of his little bed and dressed himself quickly in a white shirt, a pink vest, a yellow tie, a pair of pale blue shorts, and on his feet he pulled a red and white striped sock on his left and a blue and white polka-dot one on his right. Then he skipped happily down to the kitchen being the first one up this morning and he wanted to clean the kitchen again before the other elves were up.

Just as he was finishing with cleaning the other elves came down to cook breakfast.

"Good morning Dobby!" said Nifty cheerily.

"Good morning Nifty!" said Dobby just as cheerful.

"Nifty is wanting to cook with Dobby today," said Nifty.

"Dobby would love to cook with Nifty!" Dobby exclaimed delightedly.

Dobby stood right beside Nifty at their little stove as they cooked hundreds and hundreds of scrambled eggs for the students and teachers. Dobby noticed how Nifty was very thorough with her eggs. She would crack the eggs open right in the middle and Dobby would beat the eggs with special magic so they will cook fluffy.

Nifty glanced over at Dobby and smiled at him. "Nifty is thinking we is working very well together," she said.

Dobby smiled at Nifty. "Dobby is thinking so too," he said.

After they were done cooking they began with cleaning the dishes. Nifty and Dobby worked together to clean up all the egg shells and all the dishes. While they were thus tidying the around them Nifty's left ear brushed ever so slightly against Dobby's ear. Dobby blushed as he thought he liked the feel of Nifty's ear, soft and firm, touching his.

All morning the elves cleaned the kitchen till it was shining. They tied scrub brushes to their feet and slid and skated all around the kitchen floor until it was sparkling.

"This is fun!" squealed Dobby. He took hold of Nifty's hand and twirled her around.

Then shortly the elves all began cooking lunch. Dobby noticed Nifty cooking extra well and so he tried to cook extra well too and make the best lunch ever at Hogwarts. The other elves saw what a good job the two of them were doing and they also did a good job themselves. Then as they were all cleaning up they could hear the students upstairs talking happily and knew they were enjoying the lunch they done such a good job on.

Dobby always liked the afternoon at Hogwarts because the elves then had three hours off and were all happy during this time of day as they cooked for each other and served each other.

Dobby enjoyed himself as he sat beside Nifty and Winky. He smiled over at Nifty who smiled at him, and then he stopped smiling as he looked over at Winky who he knew was not happy at Hogwarts and this made Dobby very sad for her. He knew Winky was still hoping that Mr. Crouch will take her back but she also believed she doesn't deserve it and so Mr. Crouch will not. Dobby felt very sorry for Winky and thought Mr. Crouch was a bad wizard for being so mean to Winky. Professor Dumbledore was good to Winky but she still was not happy.

Dobby watched as Winky was finishing her pumpkin juice. "Would Winky like more pumpkin juice?" asked Dobby politely. Winky nodded and so Dobby went to get her some more.

When Dobby got back he saw that Nifty had gotten Dobby another stoat sandwich. "Dobby thanks Nifty very much!" he said.

Dobby then pushed Nifty's chair closer to the table as she took her seat and gave her another napkin. Then he polished Nifty's spoon before she ate her pudding. They began serving each other so much they were almost forgetting to eat. They all smiled and had a very nice break.

After they had made dinner they cleaned the kitchen extra well before they went to clean the rest of the castle. Once again Nifty was cleaning closely beside Dobby and she told him all about her life at Hogwarts and her pleasure of living there.

"How long has Nifty been living at Hogwarts?" asked Dobby.

"For all of Nifty's life she has," said Nifty proudly. "Nifty's family has lived and worked here for over seven-hundred years, they has."

"Dobby thinks Nifty and family are very lucky," he said rather enviously. Then without saying anything bad about the Malfoys he told Nifty about how badly they had treated him when he worked for them.

"They would box Dobby's ears whenever he didn't fold their clothes properly or something and it happened so often that Dobby began doing it himself and now Dobby wonders why he has not gone deaf."

"Nifty is very sorry for Dobby," Nifty said kindly. "She is very glad the great wizard Harry Potter freed him."

"So is Dobby," he said. "Dobby never expected Harry Potter to have such courage and compassion, but he did anyway!" Tears filled Dobby eyes and he had to pause to dry them.

"Nifty has heard about Harry Potter and the things he has accomplished and how modest and humble he is in spite of them. Nifty has never met the great Harry Potter though," Nifty admitted sadly. "But would really love to, especially now that he is Dobby's friend."

"So would Dobby love to see Harry Potter sir again," added Dobby.

"You may see him," said Nifty. "Over the years many students come down to the kitchens late at night for some snacks and butterbeer and we have always been happy to provide them with it. You may see Harry Potter then."


	3. Chapter 3

It turned out Nifty was right and Dobby did meet Harry Potter again that very night when he and his friends Hermoine Granger and Ron Weasley had come down to the kitchen and Dobby was now feeling twice as happy as he had when he had first arrived at Hogwarts.

Dobby and the other elves had served them tea and snacks and he had told them all about how he had come to Hogwarts with Winky and while he was happy to tell the story again and the three students were happy to hear it Winky was not. She had cried, wailed, and sobbed more and more as the time went by being reminded of how she had been laid off by her former master.

Up until now Dobby had been too happy to see Harry Potter and his friends to really pay attention to Winky, and now as he looked at her all crumpled on the floor and still in tears with her eyes puffy and pink and rimmed with red he felt the pity for her he would feel for a sad and hurt puppy.

He now approached Winky and as she was still weeping, though much softer now as though she was on the brink of exhausting herself, he took the handkerchief Luna Lovegood had given him from his shorts pocket and handed it to her.

"Here, take Dobby's hanky," he said tenderly coaxing her.

Winky, though, only wailed feebly and shook her head. So then Dobby reached out and attempted to wipe the tears from her face himself but she gave a wail of annoyance and turned away from him burying her face in her arms again.

Dobby was now in despair for Winky. He was also rather confused for he was never happier living and working at Hogwarts and being paid with time off, and especially wearing clothes and didn't know why Winky wouldn't feel the same way, after all her old masters he knew had treated her as badly as his old masters had and now she was rid of them and so much better off.

"Dobby doesn't want to see Winky crying," he said sounding very upset, "and Winky doesn't have to cry because Dumbledore is her master now and he is, in Dobby's humble opinion, the best master in the whole world, and he will not mistreat Winky like Winky's old masters mistreated Winky."

"Winky's master's never mistreated Winky!" Winky screamed through her tears. "Winky doesn't want Dumbledore for her master! She wants her old masters and her old home again! She can't live without them!"

Dobby could now feel his heart breaking along with Winky's and he was also now very worried about her because she had said she couldn't live without her old masters and he feared she meant she might try to hurt herself somehow and he thought quickly about what he could do to ease her pain.

Then he thought of the butterbeer which Nifty said students loved so much and came down at night for. He went over to the refrigerator and found a bottle of butterbeer and returned with it to Winky who had finally stopped crying.

"Here, Winky drink this. It's butterbeer and it will make you feel better," he said handing it her. "At least I hope it will," he added quietly.

Winky to the bottle and began drinking from it slowly at first and then she apparently was enjoying the taste very much and began to drink it more enthusiastically and soon she swallowed the last of it in three big gulps.

"Is Winky feeling better now?" asked Dobby hopefully.

"Yes, Winky is," Winky said in a bubbly voice. "Winky would like some more butterbeer please."

Dobby smiled and promptly went to the refrigerator again and got another bottle and returned with it to Winky who guzzled it down quickly and then asked for another one, and again Dobby went and got another bottle. Then Winky wanted another one, and another one, and each time Dobby would get it for her and she would guzzle each down quicker than the last.

After her six bottle Winky's eyes were glazed and were shifting all over the room and her head was wobbling from side to side and she was smiling oddly.

"Thank you Dobby!" Winky said and then burped. "Winky loves butterbeer! It is now her fa-fav-fav-or-it! Hic!" Winky hiccuped loudly and then leaned over sideways.

Dobby looked at Winky and became concerned. He thought the butterbeer was making her feel better and yet she was acting so strangely and he didn't know why. As he pondered this Nifty came up to them and seeing Winky she put her hands to her mouth and gasped.

"What has happened to Winky?" she exclaimed.

"Winky was hurting badly and so Dobby wanted to cheer her up and he gave her butterbeer and she kept asking for more because she really liked it," Dobby explained.

Nifty put her hands up to her head by her ears and shook her head gravely. "Oh no! Dobby don't you know what butterbeer is! It is a liquor!"

"Liquor?" Dobby asked confused.

"It is a substance humans drink that causes them to behave strangely until they fall asleep and what is strong for humans is even stronger for us. And from the looks of Winky you have just intoxicated her as if you had given her whiskey!"

"Whiskey!" Dobby was horrified as he suddenly understood because he remembered how his old master would talk and act after he came home late at night after drinking whiskey. "Oh no! Bad Dobby! What should we do now?"

"We should just carry her quietly and gently up to her bed and see that she falls asleep quickly and she will be back to normal when she wakes up although she may have a bad headache," said Nifty.

So Nifty and Dobby each took hold of Winky's hands and lead her up to her bed while all the while she was muttering incomprehensible things to herself, and when they laid her down on her bunk and pulled the covers over her and tucked her in securely she began hiccuping until she she fell asleep.

Dobby felt quite upset at himself for he was only wanting to help Winky and it seemed he had only intoxicated her. He would never do it again, and he hoped Winky wouldn't make an addiction out of butterbeer herself.


	4. Chapter 4

"Where is Dobby going this morning?" asked Nifty as she noticed Dobby as he was heading out of the kitchen carrying a laundry basket.

"Professor Moody say he have some robes he needs washed, he say to get them in the staffroom," Dobby explained.

"Can Nifty come too?" asked Nifty hopefully. "Nifty always loves to help Dobby."

"Certainly," replied Dobby cheerily. "Dobby is always happy to work beside of Nifty."

Together Nifty and Dobby went up to the staffroom where they at once noticed a tall wizard with many scars on his face and a huge expressionless protruding left eye talking a tall witch with her brown hair pulled back into a tight bun.

"Well, the Weasley boy has just been subdued by the mermaids," Professor Moody was saying. "So that makes all of the hostages in place now."

"What is Harry Potter going to use to survive underwater?" asked Professor McGonnagal.

"I am afraid I don't know," replied Professor Moody. "As far as I know Harry hasn't even found the means to survive yet, although I do hope he will find out about the Gillyweed soon. You know, the plant that looks like green worms."

"He could also just as easily use the Bubble-Head Charm or a simple Transfiguration spell," stated Professor Mcgonnagal.

Dobby had listened to every word of the conversation between the two teachers and he now he knew three things, Harry Potter's Wheezy was being held hostage by the mermaids and Harry had to rescue him, and Harry had no idea how he could save Ron and himself while underwater but Dobby did know, and he had to help Harry and fast.

"Dobby?" asked Nifty.

"Dobby must help Harry Potter now and get Gillyweed," he informed Nifty quickly. "Will Nifty take care of washing the robes for Dobby till he comes back please?"

"Why, certainly Nifty will," Nifty assured him.

Dobby smiled and then quickly ran off to where he was sure he knew there was Gillyweed. In Professor Snape's dungeon. Dobby soon remembered he had in fact seen a jar of the Gillyweed which Professor Moody had just described in Snape's supply closet when he was hiding in it.

Dobby reached Snape's dungeon and quickly conjured an unlocking spell and broke the lock on Snape's door. Opening it a crack, he peered inside and saw that Snape was nowhere to be seen. He squeezed in though the open door and the crept quietly into Snape's office.

He went up to the supply closet and finding it was locked he did the unlocking spell again and then stepped inside and proceeded to scan the shelves filled with all types of substances and potions, some bubbling, some strange never-before-seen colors, at least to Dobby.

"Where be the Gillyweed? Don't Snape got any?" he muttered to himself.

Dobby began to scourge through the shelves, dropping a few things in the process but he didn't bother to clean them up. Finally, in the far corner of the bottom most shelf he found several of the plant's leaves stuck to the bottom of a mostly empty jar. He grabbed hold of the jar and pried the pieces out, managing to find enough as he figured to last Harry throughout the challenge.

Dobby snapped his fingers and everything in the closet went back into the place it was before he had been in it. Then he ran to Harry's room, just in time to wake him up for the Second Challenge, and save the day.


	5. Chapter 5

The sun had just risen and Dobby apparated into Harry's dormitory and stood at the foot of his bed and exclaimed jubilantly, "Happy awakening, great sir Harry Potter!"

Harry instantly opened his eyes and sat up, reaching over to his nightstand and picking up his glasses. "Hello, Dobby," he said as he put them on. "What brings you here?"

"Dobby is wanting to show his new starry socks!" Dobby exclaimed, wiggling his toes in the new socks he was wearing. One was covered with gold stars and the other was covered with silver stars and they all glittered as if they were real. "Dobby thinks they are the best socks in the world," Dobby gushed, "and Harry Potter is the most noble, kind, and selfless wizard ever!"

Harry chuckled and blushed mildly. "Well, it was the least I could do for you after you gave me the gillyweed, you did save my life."

"Dobby only hopes the great Harry Potter will forgive him," Dobby said meekly.

"Whatever do you mean, Dobby?" asked Harry confused.

"Harry Potter must remember, when he set Dobby free he made Dobby promise to never try to save Harry Potter's life again... and Dobby still did!" Dobby explained with his ears drooping dejectedly.

"Oh..." said Harry. "Well, about that I'd only meant to never try saving my life by means of bludgers, blocked gates, and falling puddings. It's okay to save my life like you did now, that is the proper way."

"Oh, of course, Dobby understands!" said Dobby, perking up noticeably. "Dobby will never try to keep Harry Potter away from Hogwarts again, no matter how dangerous it gets, for Harry Potter has proven he can take care of himself and others when there is danger."

Harry looked down modestly a moment, and then spoke again to Dobby. "I don't look forward to danger, but danger always seems to find me. Of course you realize you never could have kept me out of the danger of my second year at Hogwarts with the means with which you tried."

Dobby looked down rather abashed.

"The bludger couldn't have done any damage Madame Pomfrey couldn't have mended, and even if Ron and I didn't have the car we could've flown to school on our brooms, and I could always have counted on Ron and his brothers to rescue me from the Dursleys, and I never would have doubted Ron and Hermoine were still my friends letters or no letters... and what did you do with them anyway, those letters?" Harry inquired.

"Harry Potter has read them already," said Dobby in a pitiful voice. "Dobby had them sent to Number 4 Privet Drive shortly after Harry Potter arrived there after second year."

"Oh, of course! I should have known!" said Harry, putting a hand to his forehead. "Well, thank you Dobby, I appreciate it," he said pleasantly.

"Harry Potter does forgive Dobby, doesn't he?" Dobby asked with his lower lip trembling, tears gathering at the corners of his orb-like eyes, and a look so hopeful and pleading that even if Harry had been going to say no he would have had a change of heart with one instant look at him.

"Of course I forgive you, Dobby. I did long ago," Harry assured him. "I'm not one who holds a grudge, and I must admit I've never had a friend who cared so much for my safety as you did, and you didn't have the same intention as the Dursleys did when they did everything they could to keep me from getting my letter of acceptance from Hogwarts and I remember in the end Hagrid showed them they had no power of the Wizarding World."

"The Dursleys should not have done that!" exclaimed Dobby in shock. "They had no right to try to keep Harry Potter away from Hogwarts for it was his rightful duty to be there and if he hadn't been there the Sorcerer's Stone would have fallen into the hands of...!" Dobby suddenly stopped speaking and put his hands to his mouth as his tennis ball shaped eyes seemed to bulge with realization of the meaning of his own words.

"Dobby is a bad elf! A very bad elf!" he exclaimed while pulling at his ears. "The worst elf ever! Dobby will punish himself right away!"

"No, Dobby, no!" Harry exclaimed as he caught Dobby by the wrist like before. "It really isn't necessary. The things you did were bad but your intentions were good, and besides you've punished yourself enough already. You are a free elf now and have no obligations to punish yourself anymore, please Dobby, I don't like to see you hurt yourself and that was why I saw that you were set free in the first place."

Dobby looked into Harry's eyes and registered that he meant everything he said, and all at once the biggest tears Harry had ever seen appeared in Dobby's eyes and Dobby quickly pulled the handkerchief out of his shorts pocket and pressed it over his welling eyes, soaking it he sobbed hysterically and said approximately, "D-D-D-Dob-eee... nev... kn-ew...s... gre..ss. H-Haaaa-rrrr-eee P..ttter... f-f-f-f-rrrr...gnnn... aaaannn... fffff-rrrr-eeee Do-obb-eee! Do-bbb-eee... llll... H-H-Haaa-rrrr-eee P-P-ter!"

Dobby then began to choke on his sobs and turning his head he blew his nose noisily. Then having somewhat composed himself he faced Harry again and exclaimed mirthfully, "This be the happiest day of Dobby's life!" and jumped on the bed just as he had when he and Harry first met, and then disapparated out of sight.


	6. Chapter 6

Dobby apparated back into the kitchen and found Winky lying on the pile of towels by the hearth where she had been left last night. She was now just waking up. She mumbled, shook her head and rubbed her eyes before opening them and they were bloodshot. She then brought a hand up to her forehead and groaned painfully.

"Winky's head hurt!" she wailed feebly.

_Tsk, tsk, tsk,_ Dobby thought. He took pity on Winky for finding her consolation in only the strong substance of butterbeer, and while it blocked her pain it didn't actually take it away. He felt all the worse because it was because of him that she had started drinking the stuff in the first place. Now he really wanted to do something for her that really would ease her pain realistically.

Though first he wanted to cure the physical pain of her hangover. He stepped over to the small refrigerator and took out a pitcher of orange juice and poured some into a big glass, then he took out two large eggs and cracked them open into the glass. He then took from the cupboard a bottle of catchup, Tabasco, and salsa. He poured all of the sauces into the formula he made and mixed it real good.

He held the concoction tightly in both hands and brought it over to Winky. He tenderly held her head up against his right hand while he slowly poured the antidote into her mouth from the glass with his left hand. Within a few minutes Winky had drunk all of it. She gagged a couple of times from the foul and burning taste of it but she sat up all the way and rubbed her eyes now. She then looked at Dobby as though she didn't know whether to be grateful or not.

"Dobby knows Winky likes butterbeer," said Dobby gently. "But butterbeer is not good for Winky," he said more firmly. "Dobby would like Winky to drink something that tastes good but does not give her a headache," he continued. "Today is Dobby and Winky's day off and so Dobby would like to go shopping for new clothes in Hogsmeade, and if Winky will come with Dobby we will stop at Madame Puddifoot's cafe on the way and Dobby will buy Winky some cocoa to drink. Will Winky come?" he asked hopefully.

Winky for a while seemed to be thinking vigorously about Dobby's suggested idea, then finally she nodded and said, "Winky will come."

Dobby smiled and clapped his hands. "Good, good! Dobby is happy!"

So then Dobby and Winky got washed up and dressed warmly as it was only the beginning of February. Dobby wore the maroon sweater Ron Weasley had gave him as a Christmas present and four pairs of socks on his feet. Winky also wore four pairs of socks and because she had so few clothes at the moment Dobby loaned her his winter coat.

The two left the kitchen and made their way to the statue of the hunchbacked witch and went down the passageway and left Hogwarts.

Finally they arrived at the storeroom of Honeydukes. Winky followed Dobby to Madame Puddifoot's where to their surprise they found the tearoom completely empty.

"Hello Madame Puddifoot," said Dobby.

"Hello, Dobby. So this must be Winky I've heard so much about," the kind woman said in her motherly voice.

"Yes, this is Winky," Dobby said.

"Here is your table," Madame Puddifoot said kindly showing them to a table by a window. "What would you like?" she asked.

"Dobby and Winky would like two cups of hot cocoa, please," said Dobby, and Winky nodded agreement.

Madame Puddifoot went to get their drinks while the two chatted pleasantly together. Dobby told Winky all about he had first met Harry Potter.

"Dobby is now sorry he tried to protect Harry Potter," he said, "and Harry said he forgives Dobby, he say we must put it all in the past where it belongs." He smiled. "Dobby would like Winky to her past with Mr. Crouch in the past too, so she can be happy and be Dobby's friend."

Just then Madame Puddifoot returned with their drinks. "Here you are," she said as she sat them down neatly beside of them. "If you need anything else just call me."

The two of them sat and sipped their hot cocoa. Winky found it had a similar effect as the butterbeer but only the good effects and head stayed clear while her heart and body became much warmed. After a while she stopped drinking and as she put her cup down there was a small rim of cocoa between her nose and her upper lip.

Dobby put his cup down as he pointed to it and chortled, "Winky has a mustache!"

Though he also had a rim of cocoa covering his upper lip and so Winky pointed to it and giggled, "So does Dobby!"

They both laughed together, finished their cocoa, wiped the remants from their faces, and then left.

They next went to Silver Sam's Shop where Dobby purchased a new shirt and three new ties and Winky purchased a new pink dress.

After paying for their items, Winky stepped outside and then Dobby noticed a rack full of Valentine's cards below a sign which read Do Not Forget To Give Your Special One the Love they Deserve.

Dobby found himself thinking about Nifty and all of the times she had helped him out and been by his side. He stepped up to the rack and picked out one of the cards he could reach. He opened it up and inside it read "The more love you share, the more love you get." As soon as he read it tiny magical hearts floated up from it and blinked away in front of his eyes. This delighted him very much and so he purchased it.

Then as he was about to leave he thought about Winky and how she seemed to need love and how much he had enjoyed sharing his day off with her and so he quickly went back and purchased another card just like the other one.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Nifty!" Dobby exclaimed as he handed Nifty the valentine card he had purchased a couple weeks ago.

"For Nifty? Dobby shouldn't have!" Nifty exclaimed as a smile lit her face and tears of joy came to her blue eyes.

"Dobby wanted to," he said. "For all of the times Winky's has helped Dobby out of trouble, or while working together. Nifty is Dobby's best friend!"

Nifty opened the card and instantly the tiny red and pink hearts magically floated up from it and flitted all around her. She giggled with delight and embraced Dobby tightly.

"Dobby is the best friend ever, he is!" she squealed with delight.

Dobby next went to Winky and presented her with her own card. "For Winky from Dobby," he said.

Winky's eyes instantly welled up with bittersweet tears. "No! Winky does not deserve it!" she wailed.

"Yes, Winky does," Dobby said insistently. "Dobby is wanting to show Winky how special she is to him." He opened up the card and set free the tiny magical hearts which framed Winky's sweet face.

Winky began bawling quite loudly now though she took the card and accepted it from Dobby happily. "Boo-hoo-hoo! Dobby is the kindest, sweetest, most understanding elf in the world to have made Winky so happy! Boo-hoo-hoo!" she sobbed.

Dobby hugged Winky and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

It was some time later that Nifty came up to Winky and showed her the card Dobby had given her as she had been showing it to everyone.

"See Nifty's card! Dobby gave it to Nifty!" she babbled excitedly. "Dobby is Nifty's best friend.

Winky looked a bit confused as well as a bit shocked when she saw it. "Nifty's card is the same as the one Dobby gave to Winky!" she exclaimed indignantly as she held up the card for Nifty to see.

Now it was Nifty's turn to look shocked and confused. "But why would Dobby give us both the same card?" she wondered. "Dobby is Nifty's best friend though because he gave Nifty's first!" she declared.

"No!" Winky yelled becoming upset. "Dobby is Winky's best friend because Dobby gave Winky a kiss!"

"No!" Nifty bellowed beginning to cry from anguish. She cried so loudly all the elves including Dobby heard.

Dobby came running up to her and asked anxiously "What is wrong with Nifty?"

"Nifty thought she was Dobby's best friend but Dobby gave Winky a kiss and gave her the same card!" Nifty howled, dripping tears everywhere.

Dobby felt terribly guilty right away. He had never anticipated anything like this at all. He quickly embraced Nifty and kissed her on her very wet cheek.

"Does Nifty feel better now?" he asked hopefully.

Nifty stopped crying, though Winky was still looking at Dobby with glaring indignation.

"Winky thought she was Dobby's best friend!"

"Winky is Dobby's best friend," Dobby said quickly.

"Then why did Dobby give Nifty the same card as he did Winky, huh?" she demanded crossing her arms.

"Because Dobby likes Nifty too," Dobby explained, hoping they would understand. "Dobby likes you both and he just wanted to make Nifty and Winky both just as happy as each other... Dobby also wants for us all to be friends," he added meekly.

It took them a few moments but the two elves finally accepted Dobby's explanation and then the three of them all apologized tearfully to one another.


	7. Chapter 7

Dobby had just finished cleaning the kitchen and was just about to leave to go to bed when all of a sudden Winky came bursting in with floods of tears. She ran straight into Dobby and bawled into his shoulder.

"Winky is upset! Is Winky hurt?" Dobby frantically asked as he tried to soothe her.

"Y-Y-Young M-Mr. Cr-Cr-ouch is a very bad boy!" she wept.

"He is?" asked Dobby surprised that Winky would say such a thing about her master, even though she certainly could.

"Mr. Crouch was Mr. Moody all along!" she continued almost inexplicably. "He used the transforming potion! He killed his father! He used Winky to join the Dark Lord and Winky has been betrayed!"

Dobby was now quite as shocked as ever.

Winky stopped crying enough to tell Dobby the worst that she had heard. "Mr. Crouch used Harry Potter too and Harry Potter saw He Who Must Not Be Named brought back to power! Harry said so and he brought back the dead body of Cedric Diggory! He's back, Dobby! He's back! The Dark Lord is back!"

Dobby had never seen Winky quite so upset before and he did everything he could for her, he even gave her a butterbeer to calm her down.

"There there," he murmured. "Dobby is right here for Winky. Dobby will be with Winky forever."

When Winky finally went to sleep Dobby thought about Harry and how hard this must be for him to have to deal with. He decided he had better go see Harry.

Dobby apparated quietly into the hospital wing and found the bed Harry was in.

"Mister Harry Potter?" he whispered, hoping Harry was awake or he might have to punish himself for waking him up.

"Dobby?" Harry said wearily as he reached for his glasses.

"Dobby has come to give his condolences, his sympathies," he began humbly. "Winky told Dobby all about how Harry Potter saw Cedric Diggory killed and saw..." here he shuddered "the D-Dark Lord rise again!"

Harry now had a look in his eyes which Dobby had never seen in them before. It was a look of deep despair and turmoil with a sort of darkness wrapped in it.

"He really has come back!" Harry said with a kind of anger Dobby had never seen in him before. "Fudge is such a git! He won't believe me or listen to Dumbledore! But it's true I tell you!" Harry pounded his fist into his pillow. "I saw him... and I felt him! It was so horrible!"

"Dobby believes Harry Potter," he assured him soothingly. "Harry Potter's Wheezy and Hermy believe him, don't they?" Harry nodded and Dobby continued, "So does Master Dumbledore. Dobby will alert the other elves! All that matter is Harry Potter is alive still and so all not be lost!"

"But still Cedric Diggory, an innocent person, was killed and is yet another of Lord Voldemort's victims!" said Harry, his bitterness turning mellow with grief.

Dobby shuddered at hearing the name. "Dobby is very sorry... So very sorry!" Dobby said tenderly.

"It's all my fault, it is!" exclaimed Harry, his voice breaking with emotion and guilt. "I was the one to decide we both take the Cup. If I had only took it for just myself like he had told me to his life would have been spared!"

Dobby's tender heart was breaking at seeing the great Harry Potter taking so much hurt onto himself. "Harry Potter could not have known about the spell on the Cup. He couldn't have known! He only did what he thought was right as is his nature."

Harry only shook his head and continued his anguishing lament. "I should have been watching it for him in the graveyard! I should have known there was trouble! I should have protected him! I should have stopped the curse! I wish it had been me instead!"

"No, no, no!" Dobby cried, much upset. "Harry Potter mustn't think such things! Harry Potter is much needed and loved by all here! We cannot survive without him! Master Dumbledore will surely say so himself that we is needing Harry Potter when the time comes!"

"I'm sorry, Dobby," said Harry, emotionally drained. "It's just I feel so responsible right now. You don't know what it's like." He looked away a moment rubbing his eyes.

"Dobby does know, sir, what it's like to see a close friend killed," said Dobby.

Harry looked at Dobby in surprise. "You do? But how? When?"

"Before Vol..." Dobby couldn't bring himself to say the name. He tried to keep his composure as he continued. "Before the Dark Lord's defeat thirteen years ago by Harry Potter Dobby watched a dual in his old master's house between old master and a neighbor when they had a quarrel over some silly little thing and just when it looked like old master was going to win neighbor's house-elf jumped between them to protect his master and so their curses each struck him at the same time and he was killed instantly, old master then declared he had won. Dobby had watched it all! The horror has stayed with Dobby all these years!" Dobby took out his handkerchief to wipe his eyes and blow his nose.

"I'm sorry, Dobby. I'm really sorry," said Harry rubbing his eyes underneath his glasses.

Dobby looked at Harry intently. "Dobby shed tears over his lost friend. Does Harry Potter shed tears over loss of Cedric Diggory?"

"I... I can't, Dobby... I can't." Harry shook his head empathetically and looked away blinking.

"Harry Potter wants to shed tears though, doesn't he?" said Dobby with his eyes full of understanding.

"Dobby... I'm fourteen years old... I'm a big boy... I can't show weakness to everyone at a time like this," Harry said protesting vigorously.

"Dobby couldn't shed tears in front of his master either when friend died. Harry Potter does not have to worry about how he looks in front of Dobby... and Dobby is alone with him now," Dobby said looking at Harry in a way that closely resembled a small, cute, loving puppy.

Harry took off his glasses and looked away again, his bright green eyes were now full of shining tears.

Dobby climbed up onto the bed and sat beside Harry. "It is okay to cry... Dobby cries too," he said.

Harry then held Dobby's small form tightly against him, almost like a child holds a teddy bear, as his tears finally began falling thick and fast while Dobby's fell at the same time as he tuned into the rhythm of Harry's sorrow and grief and embedded his own tears with his. The two of them stayed like this for a long time just holding onto each other with their hearts pressed together and keeping each other company.

When finally Harry's tears subsided, Dobby's did as well and Harry wiped his face on the bedsheets that were surrounding him and then Dobby took out his small handkerchief and dabbed at Harry's eyes and then at his own.

"Is Harry Potter feeling better now?" asked Dobby gently.

"Yes, thanks Dobby," said Harry, sounding as if he had just been dried off after coming in out of the rain.

Dobby smiled sweetly. "Crying always heals the hurt," he said and seemed to speak from experience.

Dobby got off of Harry's bed and started to leave the hospital room, then as he reached the exit he heard Harry call to him.

"Dobby?"

Dobby stopped and looked over his shoulder. "Yes, Harry Potter, sir?"

"You're a really good elf," Harry said simply.

Dobby smiled and then vanished from sight.


	8. Chapter 8

"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has returned? It can't be!" The elves exclaimed after Dobby had told them everything he'd heard from Winky and Harry Potter.

"It's true, Dobby tells you!" he exclaimed shrilly. "The great Harry Potter lived through it all! He saw Cedric Diggory die at the Dark Lord's hands. Dobby knows it's true for he has mourned his death with Harry Potter and has the tears to prove it!"

"Dobby – hic – is telling the truth!" Winky exclaimed as she clutched a bottle of butterbeer in one hand and a soiled rag in the other. "Trust him!"

All the other elves looked around at each other in fear, worry, and anticipation. "The Dark Lord has regained power! Will the dark days of old now come to be again?" one elf squeaked hysterically.

"No one knows what will happen now," Dobby said boldly. "But whatever happens we must fight and defend for the great Harry Potter! We must be at his side if ever he needs us!"

"Dobby is right!" declared one of the older elves named Crippy. "Dark days are ahead for the great Harry Potter, they are!" he added gloomily. "Now that You-Know-Who is back he will stop at nothing to take Harry Potter's life, he won't.

"He – He won't?" Dobby asked fretfully.

"No, indeed!" the older elf continued. "He has death eaters all over the place, he does! He will be sending them after Harry Potter and everyone at his side before next year begins, he will!"

Dobby gasped and put his hands up to his mouth as he realized Crippy was right. Harry Potter was now in more graver danger than he had ever been, including two years ago. Dobby couldn't bear the thought of Harry Potter having to face so much terror all alone and especially in the grieving state of mind he was currently in. His mind raced quickly trying to think of something he could do to protect him, and soon the only thing he knew to do came to him.

He approached Nifty and said earnestly, "Nifty, see Winky over there?" he gestured toward Winky who was asleep by the fireplace surrounded by empty bottles of butterbeer again. "You will take care of her for Dobby, won't you?"

"Of – Of course Nifty will," she replied, rather puzzled. "But why? Where is Dobby going?"

"To Harry Potter," he replied simply. "For he needs Dobby now."

* * *

"Dobby! What on Earth are you doing here?" Harry exclaimed when Dobby had apparated into his bedroom.

"Dobby has come to serve and protect the great Harry Potter, sir!" Dobby declared vigorously. "Dobby will be at your side when danger comes!"

Harry looked mortified. "But Dobby you can't stay here!"

Dobby's ears drooped very low. "Why not, sir?"

"Well, remember what happened the last time you were here?" Harry exclaimed breathlessly.

"But Dobby thought Harry Potter forgave him!" Dobby exclaimed looking at Harry with eyes like flood gates about to burst wide open.

"I do, Dobby! I do!" Harry said hurriedly. "It's just the Dursleys most likely won't approve of you being here with you being a creature from the world of magic and all."

"But Dobby is willing to do all of their work for them!" Dobby exclaimed just as breathlessly. "He will wash, and sew, and knit, and clean, and cook, and iron, and sweep, and hose, and-"

"Alright, I get the idea, Dobby!" Harry abruptly interrupted him. "I guess you can stay as long as you promise me you won't do any magic and, or, let anything fall."

"Dobby promises, Harry Potter, sir!" Dobby exclaimed, crossing his heart. "Dobby will be a good elf, the best elf ever! Harry Potter will not regret this, sir!"

"Alright, Dobby, I trust you," Harry consented. "I guess you'll be all right with the Dursleys if you clean up the house for them. They're not here now, Dudley has a dentist appointment. So come with me and I'll show you where to begin."

So Harry led Dobby down the hall across from his room and into the messiest room he had ever seen. There dirty garments of every description scattered everywhere, there were empty bags and packages that used to be filled with snacks laying around, and there were even various old toys discarded here and there.

"This is Dudley's room, as you can see he's not very tidy," Harry chuckled. "Think you can fix it?"

"Certainly, Harry Potter, sir!" Dobby assured him, and with a snap of his fingers the clothes on the floor and bed picked themselves up and dropped into the hamper that was just outside the door in the hall. He snapped his fingers again and all the trash in the room disapparated and reappeared in the wastebasket, another snap and all the toys piled into the toy box against the wall. Then as an afterthought Dobby gave a final snap towards the bed and the sheets tucked in, the blankets folded neatly, and the pillows arranged themselves.

"Very good, Dobby!" Harry said praising him. "Now we better get out of here, Dudley will go bonkers if he finds me in here when he gets back!"

Harry ran quickly out of the room. Dobby started to follow but then he spotted something in the room out of the corner of his eye that aroused his curiosity greatly.

It was a large flat screen standing on a thin stool on a desk with a peculiar board just beneath it covered with numbers and disarranged letters and some peculiar symbols which Dobby was unfamiliar with. As he stepped up to it he touched the keyboard and instantly the blank screen lit up filled with a scene of brightly colored buildings and tiny strange looking figures wearing bright colored red and blue armor holding odd looking instruments.

Dobby was so fascinated by what he saw on the screen he touched the keyboard again and this time a red glowing message appeared on the screen which read CLICK TO START.

Dobby didn't know what to click and so he just clicked his fingertips together and aimed at the screen and before he could blink the figures on the screen began firing at each other and jumping up and doing flips and kicking at the at the air in the most strikingly alarming way and all the while there was funny music playing over it accompanied by very loud noises as the figures in the screen kept up their action.

Dobby was extremely started by what he was seeing. He guessed it was some sort of foreign wizard dueling going on in another dimension he was seeing through a magic mirror like the one in Dumbledore's office. The more he watched of it the more degraded he felt and decided he had best leave the room.

He stepped outside the door and looked around for Harry but he was nowhere in sight."Harry Potter, sir!" he called but there was no answer.

He stepped out into the hall and looked around frantically but found himself all alone and seemingly lost. Then suddenly he heard the sound of footsteps approaching and they weren't Harry's, he could tell for sure they belonged to a tall woman.

Suddenly desperate he looked around for a place to hide and found only the clothes hamper nearby. So he climbed into it and buried himself beneath the unwashed clothing.

Petunia Dursley hummed lightly to herself as she picked up the Dudley's dirty clothes hamper and carried to the washroom where she dumped it all into the washing machine and closing the door she set the time and function for the wash and turned it on as she stepped away.

Inside the washing machine Dobby suddenly felt himself being turned over and over in the most dizzying way as he became drenched in soapy water that was pouring out from every side.

"Dobby! Dobby, where are you!" Harry called frantically as he ran down the hall looking in every room for the little elf.

"Harry Potter! Help!" Dobby screamed from inside the washing machine as soapy water filled his mouth, nose, and ears. "Dobby is in here! Help Dobby!"

"DOBBY!" Harry screamed in horror as he rapidly turned off the washing machine and opened up the door in the middle and reached in and pulled out a very wet, drenched, and soppy house elf. Dobby coughed and spluttered out soapy water which was leaking out of his ears also.

"Are you alright, Dobby?" Harry asked as he grabbed a towel nearby and wrapped around the dripping elf. "How did you ever get in there?"

"D-Dobby s-s-sorry!" Dobby said through gasping coughs. "Dobby was just curious... and then he had to hide... and... and... now he is all soapy and wet!"

Harry asked no more questions but just took Dobby into the bathroom where he undressed him and rinsed his clothes in cold water so they wouldn't shrink and then dried them and Dobby out with his aunt's hairdryer.


	9. Chapter 9

"You sure scared me for a minute there, but I'm sure glad I found you," Harry said as he finished drying Dobby off.

"Ooh... that feels good!" Dobby said as he felt the warm air from the hairdryer blowing around him.

"We're almost done," Harry said as he turned the hairdryer off. "Now hold still... this may be a bit discomforting."

He took hold of a large washcloth and rolled it up so that its ends stuck out and then stuck one end into Dobby's left ear and twisted it around inside it. After a few moments water came dripping out. Dobby winced a little bit as Harry then went around and did the other ear.

"Thank you, Harry Potter, sir. Dobby's ears feel very clean now," Dobby said when he was done.

Harry smiled and then took Dobby's clothes and began to redress him. "I still don't know what you were doing in the washing machine," he said as he began to button Dobby's shirt.

"Dobby had to hide in the clothes hamper when he heard Harry Potter's aunt coming and she put Dobby in the washing machine and turned it on," Dobby explained.

"I understand," Harry said as he pulled Dobby's vest onto him.. "I know accidents happen but you must be more careful in the future. After all, my reputation around here is bad enough."

"Dobby will be more careful," he said meekly. "Dobby is sorry, please forgive Dobby."

"I forgive you, Dobby," Harry assured him and gently pulled up Dobby's little shorts. "Just promise me you will do your best to stay hidden so the Dursleys never find you out," he added as he began pulling on Dobby's socks.

"Of course, Harry Potter, sir! Of course!" Dobby exclaimed. "May Dobby do anything to be of any help in this house?"

Harry thought just for a moment and then replied easily, "Of course. You can just do all the household chores I typically do while the Dursleys are not looking. They will think I did them, and likely will give me a break from them!"

"Dobby would be so delighted, Harry Potter, sir!" Dobby sqealed excitedly.

"All right, Dobby," Harry chuckled. "First off to be done is the washing, ironing, sewing, and scrubbing of the kitchen, and lastly sweeping out the ashes in the fireplace."

"Dobby gets right to it!" Dobby announced and was gone in a snap of fingers.

A short while afterward Dobby reapparated before Harry.

"Dobby has completed all of the chores, sir!" Dobby exclaimed breathlessly as he ran into the Dursleys living room. "The washing, the ironing, the sewing, the scrubbing, even the sweeping out of the fireplace, sir!"

"Great, Dobby!" Harry said smiling. "Now what remains is to havet he dust bins emptied, the lawn mowed, and then dinner being prepared."

"Yes, sir!" exclaimed Dobby heartily. "Dust bins, mowing lawn, and then dinner, sir!"

Dobby went upstairs and collected the trash bags from the wastebaskets in Harry and Dudley's rooms and then went downstairs and emptied them into the large one in the kitchen. He then stood on a stool and picked up the bag inside of it and dragged it with him outside, he was slow at this as it was big as he was and weighed twice as much, and then he hauled it into the can outside at the sidewalk.

Dobby dusted off his hands and then observed the lawn in front of the Dursleys house. Now he was to mow the lawn, he reminded himself. But how? In the wizarding world his masters had kept their grass short by sprinkling it with a special fertilizing potion every day.

As he wondering about this the door suddenly opened and Harry stepped out. "You'll have to go into the garage to get the lawn mower, Dobby," he said.

"Lawn mower, Harry Potter sir?" Dobby inquired curiously.

Harry went around into to the garage beside the house and came out of it a moment later carrying the most peculiar contraption Dobby had ever seen.

Harry set the lawn mower down next to Dobby. After a moment Dobby asked, "Uh... What is this, Harry Potter, sir?"

"This is the lawn mower, Dobby," said Harry. "You turn it on like this." He pulled on a lever at the side and instantly it began making a loud grinding noise, almost as if it were growling. It startled Dobby and he squeaked and leapt behind Harry's legs.

"It's alright, Dobby," Harry assured him. "The noise just means it's on. Now you take hold of it like this and run it along the grass like this, see?" Harry demonstrated a moment.

Dobby watched and thought it looked easy enough and so he came up in front of Harry and took hold of the handle that was perched high on top of the lawn mower and he had to stand on his toes to be able to hold his grip on it. He then tried to move it but found he couldn't for it was so heavy.

"Dobby need help, please, Harry Potter, sir," Dobby said looking at Harry through the corners of his eyes.

"Alright, Dobby," said Harry. "Does this help?" Harry gave Dobby a very light push from behind and a moment later he wished he hadn't for Dobby was then instantly zooming all over the yard on the lawn mower while clinging for dear life onto the handle.

"H-H-Haaaa-rrrrrr-yyyyy P-P-Potttteer-rrrr!" Dobby squealed loudly as he swung his feet into the air and onto the lawn mower's head.

"You're doing good there, Dobby!" Harry called out to him. "So just as long as you don't – Hey!"

The lawn mower had suddenly changed its direction and was racing right towards Harry. "Hey, Dobby! Watch where you turn that thing!" Harry shouted as he ran out of the lawn mower's path only to be chased around the yard by it until he finally managed to run into the house.

Harry looked out the window and watched Dobby cutting the lawn on the haywire lawn mower. _Oh well, at least the grass is getting trimmed,_ he thought. And it was, although most of the time Dobby just seemed to be going around in circles.

Soon a bald spot of dirt began to appear in the middle of the yard and then Harry went outside again and stood on the front steps and shouted, "Okay, Dobby! That's enough, turn it off now!"

"D-D-Dobby d-d-doesn't kn-kn-know h-h-how to t-t-turn i-it o-o-off, s-s-sir!" Dobby helplessly shouted back. Just then the lawn mower hit the sprinklers and stuck fast where it was as they were turned on and water sprayed around everywhere as the lawn mower continued to run and whirled around in motion with the sprinklers.

"H-H-Help H-H-Harrr-yyyy P-P-Pottt-errrr!" Dobby screamed shrilly. "Dobby is getting very dizzy and wet!"

Harry rushed forward trying to dodge the spraying water as best he could and reached the spinning lawn mower and pulled down the back lever and turned it off. As soon as it was shut down it stopped whirling around so suddenly that Dobby was thrown free of its handle and threw the air.

As Dobby screeched in terror Harry made a pass and a dodge like a professional football player and leapt into the air and caught Dobby in his arms just as they both fell to the ground in front of the spraying water.

"Wheee! That was fun!" Dobby exclaimed as he laid on top of Harry, nose to nose.

Harry smiled. "Well, I just It'll never happen again," he replied.

The two of them got up and went back into the house.

"Is the lawn mowed?" asked Uncle Vernon

"Y-yes." replied Harry a bit nervously

"How does it look?" he inquired.

"Well, it looks... um... different," Harry replied, not knowing how to tell his uncle the yard now looked like a wet frosted doughnut.


	10. Chapter 10

"Dobby has dinner ready, sir!" Dobby whispered to Harry.

Dobby apparated away from the kitchen. Harry stepped briskly into the living room where his relatives were gathered around the television set.

"I've made dinner. Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, and corn on the cob, and strawberry pie for dessert," Harry said to them.

"Sounds good to me," said Uncle Vernon rising from his chair and rubbing his stomach.

"That is my favorite!" Dudley declared as he headed into the dining room after his parents.

"Everything is your favorite!" Harry muttered under his breath as he followed behind them.

Once everyone was in the kitchen, Dobby reapparted into the living room. He noticed the large box with the screen on it in the middle of the room. It was flashing images on and off and it was the most curious thing Dobby had ever seen, next to the lawn mower.

He stepped up to it and touched it, the screen felt like very hard glass and was slightly warm to the touch. On the screen he saw a gray colorless image of a man and woman together. The man was wearing a top coat and a fedora as he leaned towards the woman and cupped her delicate pretty face with his hand. "I love you, Maggie," he said, and a moment later he pressed his lips against her own and they remained n this position as if they had got stuck to each other with glue on their lips.

The scene lasted a long time until the screen faded to black. As Dobby watched he felt disgusted by what he saw for he couldn't imagine ever doing such a thing with another elf, not even Nifty, for it seemed just too gross. Would he ever understand humans, especially muggles? He thought not.

He noticed a set of buttons on the left side of the box, some big some small. He was so curious to know what would happen if he pushed one if any of them that he pushed one that had what looked like a backwards arrow on it.

Instantly the image on the screen changed. The picture was now in color although everything had a bluish tint to it as it was a nighttime scene. Dobby saw a little boy wearing a cape with a hood riding a strange mode of transportation with wheels, handlebars, and pedals with a creature wrapped in a sheet riding in the basket. Dobby could only see the creature's face and assumed it was a house elf when he saw its eyes but then he saw the shape of its nose and didn't know what it was.

"We walk from here," said the little boy to the creature. Then suddenly the thing the little boy had been pedaling began to move again and seemingly of its own accord.

"What are you doing? E.T!" the little exclaimed fearfully. So Dobby now knew the unknown creature's name was E.T. and if it was making the wheels on that thing he was riding in turn he almost certainly had to be from his world.

The thing which they were riding sped onward and reached a deep gulf in the road and Dobby held his breath as he saw them go right over it but instead of falling they lifted up higher and higher and soared through the air above the treetops.

"Not so high! Not so high!" the little boy screamed with fear and excitement.

Dobby stared in awe and wonder as he watched the little boy and creature in front of him flying like how he had sometimes seen witches and wizards fly on their brooms. A smile spread across his face as he watched them fly straight across the full moon in the night sky and he thought how he'd love to do the same thing with Harry if only if he knew what it was they were riding on.

"Don't crash, please!" the little boy begged the creature as they began to descend back to the ground. They landed and fell over on their side but seemed unharmed.

Dobby felt so amazed by the wonders the screen on the box could show him. He just had to see more.

A few days later, Dobby was cleaning out the Dursleys' garage, something which had not been done in many years and it was filled with all kinds of junk that Dobby had never knew even existed. As he was levitating away some large boxes he discovered behind them an object that both astounded and delighted him. It was the very same object he had seen on in the box with the screen on it the little boy was flying on with the unknown creature in the basket.

Thoughts of wonder and excitement raced through his eager mind as he imagined himself flying with Harry on it across the moon. Of course he had to know if Harry approved of such a thing so he dropped what he was doing and rushed back to the house.

He apparated into Harry's room where he found him dressed in his pajamas and robe getting ready for sleep.

"Harry Potter! Dobby has made the greatest discovery, Harry Potter, sir!" he exclaimed breathlessly.

Harry rubbed the back of his neck and yawned slightly. "Dobby, it's late. Can't it wait till morning?"

"This is something which cannot be seen or done by daylight, sir! Harry Potter must come with Dobby at once!" he declared enthusiastically.

So Harry followed Dobby outside and into the garage where Dobby unveiled the wondrous object he had found.

Harry smiled weakly when he saw it. "So I see you've found a bicycle. Well, good for you," he said without much spirit.

"A bicycle?" repeated Dobby. "Dobby had no idea that was what it was! Dobby would like to take a ride in Harry Potter's bicycle, if sir will please agree!"

"Actually this isn't my bicycle, it's Dudley's," Harry said frowning. "And he'd be sure to destroy me if I was to use it without even asking, not that he'd ever let me anyway."

"Where is Harry Potter's bicycle?" inquired Dobby.

"I don't have one, I'm afraid," Harry replied forlornly. "I guess the Dursleys just never thought it necessary to get me one."

Dobby's ears dropped in sad disappointment. "But Dobby wanted to ride in the bicycle."

"Look, I'm sorry, Dobby," Harry said. "But I don't even know how to ride a bicycle."

Dobby's ears perked up a bit. "That doesn't matter with Dobby, for Dobby intends to make it fly!"

"Fly!?" Harry exclaimed in disbelief. "How can you make a bicycle fly?"

"The same as Harry Potter can make a broom fly," Dobby replied easily. "The magic is all inside."

"That is what Dumbledore says, too," said Harry with a smile. "Alright, Dobby. Just let me go get my invisibility cloak so we won't be seen."

"Yippee!" Dobby exclaimed delightedly. "Bring a sheet for Dobby also for Dobby's ears need protecting from the night air."

So Harry went into the house and came back a moment later carrying his invisibility cloak and a small white sheet which he wrapped neatly around Dobby. He tucked Dobby into the bicycle's basket at the front and then covered himself with the invisibility cloak and draped it over the bicycle.

Harry began pedaling it unsteadily, though as they left the garage it seemed to be moving on its own like a plane on autopilot and they quickly began picking up speed. Harry felt his adrenaline rising as the bicycle reached its top speed.

They came to a small hill and as they reached the top Harry felt a peculiar sensation around his feet and as they glided over the hill they lifted up off of the ground. They rose higher and higher into the air gradually and gracefully like kids do on a swing and soon they were floating above the rooftops around them and then rising above the treetops going steadily higher and higher.

"Not so high, Dobby! Not so high!" Harry exclaimed feeling frightened and ecstatic all at once.

Dobby ceased their elevation and they just soared through the night air on invisible wings as swift and graceful as an eagle's Harry looked around him and he could see the whole neighborhood far below them and just above him he saw the stars glittering and the milky way shining. He had never felt such excitement in all his life for this was even better than riding a broom, so much more thrilling.

He cried out in ecstacy as he saw the full moon pass by them. Dobby seemed to be feeling Harry's happiness and he reflected it back to him as they took a dive in front of them and then rose up high again. Harry felt his heart would burst with pleasure, never had he felt so free.

They flew around town for a while and then when Harry began to show signs of becoming tired, Dobby flew them back to Little Whinging at Number 4 Privet Drive. He managed to bring them down carefully and gently.

Harry got off of the bicycle and quickly put it back into the garage in the same place they had found it. He still felt so happy and he did something Dobby had done for him in the past but he never really done for him in return for it, he hugged him. He picked him up and held him in his arms and caressed him.

Dobby began trembling with emotion and then he began gasping which turned to hyperventilating and when Harry pulled him back he saw his eyes were full and streaming incessantly.

"N-N-Never... never... in all Dobby's life has he been held in such a way by anyone!" he sobbed.

Harry smiled and pulled a handkerchief out of his robe and handed it to Dobby which seemed to make him cry even more.

"Th-thank you, Harry Potter, sir!" he wailed as he pressed it to his face.

Harry had been truthful when he told Dobby he did not hold a grudge against him, and now he was extremely glad that he didn't or he would have missed out on having the best friend he had of all others.


	11. Chapter 11

Dobby was awakened in the middle of the night by the sounds of Harry's moaning. He stepped out of the closet and saw Harry was tossing and turning in his sleep and clutching at his forehead while moaning to himself, "No! No! Don't kill Cedric! Please No!"

Dobby had been fearful of this. Harry was reliving his dark memories in his dreams over and over again. Dobby took pity on him and wanted to try to soothe away his nightmares. He thought and thought until he had an idea that seemed sure to work.

He stepped up to Harry's bedside and raised the tips of his fingers high above his head and pink smoke shot out from them and settled just above Harry's head. Dobby kept at this until there was a fair-sized cloud of sparkling pink mist floating over Harry, the sparkles of which rained down on him and his tossing and turning decreased and then stopped altogether as did his moaning and his hand rested at his side. Dobby smiled in satisfaction and then yawned and went back to sleep in his makeshift bed in the closet.

Hours later Harry's alarm clock went off loudly and Dobby sat up and rubbed the remains of sleep from his eyes. He stepped out to say good morning to Harry but as he did his eyes widened in horror and his jaw fell to the floor.

Harry was sitting up in bed and his was literally in the clouds of pink colored mist and sparkles and he was obviously breathing into it. Dobby watched in agitation as Harry slowly slid from his bed with his hands a little way out if front of him and walked right into the closed-door, he stepped back and walked into again, and then again and again. Dobby at once got to his feet and quickly opened the door, and Harry, still in his sleepwalking stupor, stepped out of the door and walked down the stairs.

Dobby followed after him hurriedly, trying to remember what he should do to remove the spell he had so well-intentionally placed on him. Harry went into the kitchen where he took a box of cereal from the cabinets and a pitcher of orange juice from the refrigerator. He sat down at the table dumped all the cereal that was in the box into the bowl and then he poured most of the orange juice in the pitcher on top of it and then began to eat it.

Dobby stepped into the kitchen and watched Harry with disgust and agitation. His mind raced quickly trying to think of what he had to do. Then as quick as a finger snap it came to him. He went quickly to the sink and took a tall glass and filled it up to the brim. He then went over to Harry and stood on the chair beside him.

"Please forgive Dobby, Harry Potter," Dobby whispered with trembling lips just before he poured the glass of water onto Harry's head, evaporating the pink cloud surrounding it.

Harry's eyes opened and he blinked as he rubbed them and shook his head of dripping wet hair. He looked down and muttered, "Why is there orange juice on my corn flakes?"

That afternoon Dobby stood on a stool at the ironing board ironing Dudley's boxer shorts while Harry sat beside him reading from _A History of Magic_ to catch up for next term.

Suddenly they heard Dudley yelling from outside. "Mum! Dad! My bicycle won't stop!"

Dobby abruptly stopped ironing as his ears drooped and Harry put down his book and they both looked out the window in dreaded anticipation. Then they saw Dudley on bicycle zooming around in circles nonstop. Harry looked at Dobby who looked extremely guilty as they both realized that Dobby forgotten to take off the flying spell from last night and the simple fact that it didn't go over very well on muggles.

"It must be the brakes!" they heard Uncle Vernon yell as he came running.

"Hold on Diddykins!" Aunt Petunia cried out running at his side.

Harry opened the window hurriedly, and Dobby snapped his fingers at the bicycle as Dudley zoomed by on it. Moments later they heard a loud crash come from behind the house. They watched Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia rush outside.

"It looks like Dudley will need a new bicycle," Uncle Vernon stated.

Harry looked positively mortified while Dobby picked up the underwear he had ironed and put it over his head so that the Dursleys would not see his guilty and shame ridden face.

That evening Harry sat watching and waiting at his bedroom window. Finally he saw three small objects flying towards the house in the moonlight.

"They're here, sir! They're here!" Dobby exclaimed. "The owls are here!"

"Finally!" Harry exclaimed with relief. He opened the window allowing the owls to drop their letters inside.

"From your Wheezy and Hermy, aren't they, sir?" Dobby asked.

"Yes, and this one is addressed to you," Harry said as he handed him a small envelope with his name on it.

"For Dobby!? Oh my!" Dobby exclaimed in joy and disbelief as he quickly took hold of it. He opened it up and read the letter inside and as he did his eyes grew wide again and his lips started quavering also. "Oh no... Oh dear... Oh no!" he muttered under his breath.

"What's wrong, Dobby?"asked Harry with concern.

"It's from Nifty," Dobby said clutching the letter in his trembling hands. "She says Winky is making herself sick, and now she is so sick that Nifty is begging Dobby to come back to Hogwarts! What will Dobby do? Boo hoo!" he wailed.

"It's alright, Dobby, really it is. You can leave if you must," Harry assured him.

Dobby sniffled. "But what about Harry Potter? He is in needing of protection, he is!"

"I can manage just fine on my own, Dobby, really," said Harry. "Besides it would likely do us both a lot of good if you were to go back to Hogwarts and take care of Winky. Maybe she's making herself sick because she misses you."

Dobby's ears pricked up. "Dobby never thought of that! Poor Winky! Dobby will go to her at once. But remember, Harry Potter, sir, if you is ever needing Dobby he is just a call away and you can always count on Dobby."

"I'll remember Dobby, now you better hurry," Harry urged him.

Then Dobby apparated and was gone in a flash.


	12. Chapter 12

Dobby reappeared in the Hogwarts kitchen where he found Nifty rushing toward him and waving her hands excitedly. "Dobby! Thank goodness you're here! Nifty doesn't know how much longer Winky can last!"

"Where is Winky?" Dobby asked urgently.

Nifty pointed to a corner by the fireplace where he saw Winky laying flat on her stomach surrounded by about ten empty bottles of butterbeer. Dobby rushed up to her at once and gently turned her over and saw that she was alive as her chest was moving up and down, although her breathing did sound rather labored and constrained.

He bent down and whispered quavering into her ear. "Winky? It's Dobby... Dobby has come home to you."

Winky's eyes gradually fluttered until they were halfway open. She opened her mouth and liquids began oozing forth from it. "D-D-Dobby?"

Dobby nodded and smiled with tears in his eyes as his eyes locked with hers. He took hold of her gently and raised her up to embrace her. However, as he did so she began gagging and choking quite frightfully and more liquids began oozing out of her mouth.

"Oh no! It's happening again!" exclaimed Nifty. "Quick, get her to the sink!"

Dobby and Nifty hurriedly carried Winky up to the sink where she bent over double and vomited into it quite heavily.

"She has done that a lot lately," Nifty said in despair. "As soon as you left she started drinking double the amount of butterbeer she usually does and she goes on and on in hers sleep, though we is unable to understand much of it except Dobby's name sometimes."

Dobby felt so guilty for leaving Winky's side. He felt he should have known better, for he knew that finding out her former master had become a death eater was the biggest blow to her of everything else. He would have liked to have punished himself right then if he wasn't so preoccupied with Winky now.

Once Winky was done being sick she began coughing and then collapsed onto the floor in a crumpled heap. Dobby reached down and picked her up in his arms easily for while he had gained weight since he had arrived here she had lost just as much. He carried her out of the kitchen and as he enter the space behind it he wished with all his might that he had a private place to put Winky.

Almost as soon as he had wished heard the sound of a door opening. He looked and he found a fair-sized open room with a bed just the right size for an elf and there was a cabinet nearby. Dobby with much relief rushed into the room and gently dropped Winky onto the bed and pulled the clean sheets over her and tucked her in.

He went over to the cabinets and curious to know what was in them he opened them up and was astonished to find all sorts of potions which as read the labels on them he found they were for headaches, stomach cramps, and other various body pains. They were just what Winky would need when she woke up.

He dug into the realms of the cabinets and gathered various potions which he mixed in a glass vial and then poured it into a container and shook it up good and then he attached a thin tube to the edge of the cup and brought it over to Winky and slid the end of the tube carefully into her mouth and as he tilted the end of the cup upward the concoction he had made slid evenly into her mouth. He gently held her head against his free hand so that it would slide down her throat with ease.

As he finished with this, Nifty poked her head into the doorway. "Is Winky going to be all right?" she inquired.

"Shhh... Dobby thinks so," he whispered.

Nifty smiled and then looked suddenly shy about something. "Will Dobby come with Nifty?" she asked hesitantly.

Dobby looked over at Winky in the bed. He figured she would probably stay asleep for at least a few more hours and he had nothing else to do till then so he nodded. "Certainly? Where does Nifty want to go?"

Nifty smiled warmly and gestured for him to follow her. So Dobby followed and she led him to a small door in the wall behind the kitchens which was just big enough for them to squeeze through. Nifty went first and Dobby followed and found they were standing in the most beautiful place he had ever seen.

They were outside of the school's quarters and in the midst of a wide open space which was covered with dark green grass and in the middle there was a large dark blue lagoon and waterlilies enshrouded it's surface. It was a warm and hazy night and the light of the full moon and the stars above them gave the entire scene a most magical glow.

"Where are we?" he asked in wonderment. "Dobby has never been here before."

"We at the mermaid's lagoon," said Nifty smiling. "Sometimes the mermaids come up to the surface at night and sing. Nifty wanted to show you."

The two elves went up to the lagoon and watched intently. Dobby stared into its dark murky surface and it seemed so still and lifeless, and then he thought he saw a slight ripple appear in it as if a fingertip had touched it, and then it was gone but then he saw tiny bubbles coming up from beneath it. Then a circle began to form around them and turned around and around. A face appeared some feet below the surface. A porcelain white face with deep-set blue eyes and dark red lips, it came higher and higher and they began to see the golden strands of hair flowing around it.

There was a light splash and out from the surface burst a most magnificent creäture. It looked almost human except for its long shiny greenish blue fish like tail. The two elves stared in wonder as its tail lifted up out of the water and then lowered itself back in again. The mermaid swam up to them and its lips parted slightly and began making strange and beautiful vocalizing sounds that were unlike any human sound that had ever been heard for it was much to eerie and sweet and lovely.

The elves listened for a while and then when the mermaid dived under the surface again Dobby turned to Nifty and hugged her. "Dobby thanks Nifty for showing him the mermaids, it has made him very happy!"

Nifty blushed slightly and then seemed to be looking over her shoulder. "There are more wonders to see at night at Hogwarts... Come with Nifty."

Dobby followed her into a little grove of shady trees that stood a short way off and as he glanced into the darkness he began to see tiny yellow lights flitting about here and there.

"What are these?" he asked curiously.

"These are fairies," Nifty replied. "They tend to the plants and flowers and live in the hollow of the trees around here. They will play with you if you let them know you are their friend."

"How do we let them know?" Dobby asked, wanting to do so.

"Like this," Nifty said and made a tiny sound that sounded somewhere between humming and whistling.

Then before his eyes the tiny balls of yellow glowing light began to exceed in numbers as more and more fairies came out into the open area. They flitted and floated around the two elves and soon they were close enough for them to see their figures within their yellow orbs of light, they looked like tiny china doll princesses.

Nifty held out her finger and one landed on the tip of it. Another one landed on the end of Dobby's nose. He sneezed and Nifty giggled.

The fairies began making queer motions around their arms and feet as if urging them to move. Nifty and Dobby began moving their feet in time to the fairies motioning and then they began moving their arms up and down in rhythm to the fairies urging. The fairies began twinkling their lights as they made twirling motions in the air and above the ground. The elves moved in tune with them and soon they were dancing a peculiar little ditty that they didn't know and yet seemed to come so easy to them, almost naturally.

"Elves have been communing with fairies like this since the beginning of time," Nifty explained. "Nifty has done it before and she knew Dobby probably didn't know from the upbringing he had, and Nifty did not want him to miss out on it."

"Nifty has made Dobby happier than he has been since Harry Potter set him free!" Dobby declared as they danced harmoniously with the fairies. "But then, Dobby is always happy when he is around Nifty."


	13. Chapter 13

It was the first week in September and a new year at Hogwarts had begun. The elves were all very happy to be working again and were preparing dinner for the students.

Dobby was making cornbread muffins while Nifty was carefully cleaning off a stack of dishes at the sink, when suddenly the door opened and in stepped a very short and very fat middle-aged woman with very little neck and a toad like face. Dobby took one look at her and instantly got a bad feeling in his stomach.

"Hello," he said as politely as he could. "Is Madam wanting anything here?"

"I am Professor Dolorous Umbridge," said the woman in a rather sickly sweet voice. "I am here to inspect the Hogwarts kitchens."

This statement seemed to startle Nifty for she suddenly let one of the dishes she was drying off slip from her hands and fall to floor and smash to pieces.

Professor Umbridge looked with indifference at Nifty's little accident. "Does this sort of thing normally happen?" she asked, still speaking in a sweet voice.

"No, ma'am," replied Nifty nervously. "Nifty was just surprised is all... every one of us make mistakes now and then."

"Do you now?" inquired Umbridge thoughtfully as she wrote something down on her clipboard she was holding with a pen.

"None of us are perfect, but we try our best," added Dobby.

Umbridge walked up to where Dobby was and took a pinch off of one of the cornbread muffins and tasted it. "Hmm..." she muttered. "This cornbread tastes a wee bit underdone."

Dobby looked rather embarrassed at this. "Dobby begs your pardon," he said. "But he is still cooking them, thank you very much."

"I see," replied Umbridge with sweet indifference as she wrote again on her clipboard.

Just then Winky appeared in the doorway. She stumbled slightly as she walked and hiccuped once.

"What is this?" asked Umbridge looking in Winky's direction.

"This be Winky, ma'am," replied Dobby cautiously. "She has a bit of a problem with butterbeer as she is always unhappy because she is free."

"But you are also wearing clothes," said Umbridge observantly. "Are you not happy too?"

"Oh no! Dobby is very, very happy to be free, and happy to be here," Dobby assured her quickly.

"Oh? And why is that?" inquired Umbridge curiously.

"Dobby isn't sure," he replied for he was curious about why as well. "Perhaps he is just not purebred."

"I see," replied Umbridge shortly and writing on her clipboard again. "And why did Master Dumbledore hire you and Winky then?"

"Because we had no place else to go to, ma'am," Dobby replied. "Dobby enjoys freedom but he enjoys working just as much, if you please."

"So I see," she replied with a smile. "I guess this will be all for my report. Good day to you."

And with that she left the kitchens, and as soon as she was gone Dobby let his breath very slowly as did Nifty, who also wiped her face on her tea towel. They were both quite relieved, for some reason, that Umbridge had left them.

Shortly after dinner had been served that evening, Dobby, Nifty, and a number of other elves went to the Gryfindor tower to clean the common rooms.

They had barely started when Dobby heard Nifty exclaim, "Oh my stars! A hat!"

Dobby ran up to where Nifty was, and sure enough, he found a small hat, just the right size for an elf, behind a sofa.

"Jilly has found a pair of socks under the table!" cried another elf from across the room.

"And here is a scarf!" said Dobby looking under a chair.

"Who do you suppose could have put these here?" asked Nifty as she stepped cautiously away from the pieces of clothing they had found.

"Nifty bets it was that girl Hermoine Granger! Nifty remembers how she insulted us by telling us we should be free, no offense to Dobby," she added quickly to her friend. "But Nifty has never been more insulted by this in her life, and she will not clean Gryfindor tower until these clothes are gone!"

"Neither will Jilly!" she declared with equal indignation.

"Nor Crippy," he added.

Dobby sighed with understanding and resignation. "Dobby will clean the common room by himself and take all of the clothes," he assured the others.

"Thank you, Dobby, very much," said Nifty gratefully. "Nifty will go to clean Ravenclaw tower."

"Jilly will go clean Slytherin tower... anywhere but here!" added Jilly hurrying after Nifty and the other elves.

Dobby cleaned thoroughly around the Gryffindor Common Room and by the time he was done he had collected four pairs of socks, two scarves, and three small hats which he put on one after the other. As he was leaving he found another pair of socks and decided he would give these to Winky.

Dobby apparated back into the kitchen where he found Nifty tidying around, but there was no sign of Winky anywhere.

"Has Nifty seen Winky anywhere?" he asked.

"No, Nifty has not seen Winky since before dinner started," she replied, sounding rather concerned.

Dobby also became very concerned at this and he apparated into the elves dormitory but Winky was nowhere to be found there either. Now becoming very worried, for there was no telling what an elf with a drinking problem might do when set on the loose, he decided to check all the towers to see if Winky had by chance gone there with another set of elves.

He checked Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff and he asked as many elves there as he could, but Winky was once again nowhere to be found. So with his heart burning fiercely with hope he apparated to the Slytherin tower, and he didn't see Winky anywhere, but then he suddenly spotted her.

She was standing precariously close to the edge of the roof outside of the window just beside him. Dobby glanced to the side to see her face and one look and he could tell what her intention was and he was quite horrified.

He instantly apparated by her side and pleaded with her. "No, Winky! Please do not jump, or you will kill yourself!"

"That is Winky's intention," replied the drunken elf forlornly.

"But why?" exclaimed Dobby in anxiety.

"Winky's life has been nothing but a lie, serving a family that raised a traitor who dumped Winky out into a cold cruel world which she cannot survive in any longer," Winky responded, stepping slightly closer to the edge of the roof.

"But Winky is needed here!" Dobby exclaimed, wanting to cry.

"No, she isn't!" wailed Winky. "No one likes Winky here! No one cares about Winky!"

"Dobby cares! Really he does!" exclaimed Dobby in honest desperation. "Dobby doesn't want Winky to die, and if Winky will jump Dobby will jump after her!"

Winky turned and looked at him in great shock. "Dobby would do that for Winky?" she asked incredulously.

Dobby nodded with tears beginning to shine in his eyes. "Please, don't jump, Winky," he begged. "Dobby doesn't want to have to jump too."

Winky stared at him in shock for a few more moments before she carefully inched herself away from the edge of the roof. Dobby smiled and reached out his hand for he to take, and she took it and he gently guided her away from her perch of death and back to him.

Dobby let out a low sob as he threw his arms around Winky and hugged her close to him. "Winky really scared Dobby," he cried. "Please never scare Dobby again."

He looked deep into Winky's eyes and said, "Dobby will show Winky the world is a beautiful place to live in."

He then apparated both of them down to the ground and showed her the lagoon where they watched the mermaids swim for a while. Then he showed her into the small grotto where the fairies danced late into the night.

As Dobby danced in rhythm with the fairies with Winky at his side he looked into her face and could tell she was now beginning to think that maybe there were good reasons to stay alive.


	14. Chapter 14

A new term had begun and Dobby was feeling quite happy now as he had been able to help Harry Potter yet again when he mentioned he needed a secret room to hold secret meetings in and Dobby had told him all about the Room of Requirement which he had used a few times a week since the year had began to take care of Winky in private. While it was true that Winky had been more lively than before she still kept at the butterbeer and he figured it was from the force of the addiction, or maybe she just needed his attention. Either way he was happy to be caring for her.

Now as he tucked her in bed after giving her the remedial potion he began hearing footsteps approaching from the around the corridor. He had fine-tuned ears which recognized the sound and rhythm of the footsteps and he knew who was coming it and he was quite pleased.

He quickly his Winky in her little bed behind a magic curtain and arranged a table with a chair into the room and waited a few moments and then the door opened and in stepped Harry Potter.

"Oh! Hello Dobby! I'm not intruding am I?" said Harry, surprised to see him.

"No, not at all, sir," replied Dobby smiling. "Can Dobby get Harry Potter anything? A cup of tea perhaps?"

"Sure Dobby, a cup of tea would be nice, and so would something to eat, please," replied Harry in a rather tired voice.

So Dobby popped out of the room for a moment and returned a moment later with a cup of tea and a roast beef sandwich for his friend.

"Thanks, Dobby," said Harry gratefully as he sat down and took a bite of the sandwich and sipped on the tea.

Dobby was noticing something peculiar about Harry tonight. His features were drooping in a somber way and his voice was slow and tired, almost weak, and he sipped the tea in a way which suggested he needed the nourishment badly.

"Is anything wrong, sir?" asked Dobby in a soft, sympathetic voice.

Harry set his teacup down. _Where do I begin? _he thought. "I'm just really having a terrible year this term is all," he replied soberly.

Dobby's ears dropped as did the corners of his mouth. "Has someone hurt Harry Potter?" he asked concerned.

"Well, Umbridge did in a way... if this counts," Harry held out the back of his wrist for Dobby to see and he now for the first time noticed the scars on his wrist which were in the shape of letters which spelled out 'I won't tell lies'"

Dobby was aghast. "How could she do this to Harry Potter?!" he exclaimed incredulously. "What lies could Harry Potter possibly have told?"

"I have never lied," said Harry through gritted teeth. "I really did see Voldemort return to power... and he did kill Cedric!"

"Dobby knows Harry Potter did," Dobby assured him. "Why would anyone think Harry Potter would tell a lie about that?'

"Umbridge was appointed by the Ministry and the Ministry doesn't believe me, and they seemed to want to make sure no one will," said Harry forlornly. "Some of the people around here who were my friends a year ago won't talk to me know because they think I'm a nutter now."

"Dobby is sorry for Harry Potter," said Dobby kindly.

"I hate Umbridge!" Harry said seething. "She gives everyone a bad time, not just me. She has no right to be here, and she's not even a teacher, she won't teach us any magical defenses which is why I have the burden... I mean duty of teaching my fellow students who want to learn all I know myself... though I worry it won't be enough."

"How could it not be enough, sir?" inquired Dobby. "If anyone be a master at defenses against the dark arts, it be Harry Potter, sir!"

Harry just frowned miserably. "Umbridge forbids any student clubs or groups and I am well aware that if I ever get caught in here I will surely be expelled, me and all my friends."

"Dobby would never let that happen, sir?" Dobby assured him promptly. "Dobby will make sure Umbridge never finds out about Harry Potter's secret meetings."

"Thanks Dobby," Harry said with a weak smile. "But that isn't the only of my troubles now," he went on. "I also have occlumency lessons with Snape... of all people!"

"What is occlumency, sir?" inquired Dobby.

"From what I understand it is like a way of shielding the mind against evil thoughts and intruders from entering... you see I've had these odd dreams lately about Voldemort... just this Christmas I dreamed I was in the mind of Voldemort's snake and attacking Mr Weasley... and thank Goodness he is alive!"

Dobby winced at the thought of having such nightmares. "So is occlumency helping Harry Potter sheild his mind?"

"I wish I could say yes, Dobby, but with Snape teaching me it's so hard to get the hang of it," Harry admitted regretfully. "I just don't like him invading my private thoughts so much, and I don't care to see his either."

"Harry Potter is afraid of what he might see if he does?" asked Dobby understandingly.

Harry nodded. "I don't know if I can trust him, even if Dumbledore does."

"But Harry Potter does still have people who care about him," said Dobby after a short silence. "He still has his Wheezy and Hermy, doesn't he?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, and I am always grateful for having them by my side."

"And Harry Potter also has his godfather, Sirius Black," Dobby pointed out. "He will always have a godfather who cares about him."

Harry smiled weakly again. "I know I will, Dobby. But I'm also very worried about Sirius now, too. You see, just before I left his home after the holidays Snape came in and insulted him, calling him a coward, and I fear he might do something... I don't know... foolish. And he did give me something with which to contact him if I get in trouble, I don't know if I should use it though."

"If Harry Potter does not wish to contact his godfather he can still contact Dobby," Dobby assured him brightly. "Dobby will always be here for Harry Potter no matter what. All he has to do is call out Dobby's name and he will come, just a snap away."

"Thanks Dobby," said Harry appreciatively. "But I wouldn't want to get you in trouble either."

Dobby's ears drooped again. He watched silently as Harry finished his tea and sandwich shortly.

Harry yawned tiredly and said, "Well, I guess I'll go to bed now. Thanks for being here for me Dobby. I needed someone to listen to me."

"Anytime, sir. Anytime," Dobby said, smiling again.


	15. Chapter 15

The day started out quite normally for the elves, but then after dinner Professor Umbridge came in. All activity in the room stopped as all eyes turned on the old toad hag, and they could tell from the look on her face that she meant business and it was very bad business.

"Which one of you goes by the name of Dobby?' she inquired in a pretentious sweet voice.

Dobby stepped forward nervously. "I do," he said.

"Tell me, Dobby," said Umbridge. "Do you know of the Room of Requirement?"

Dobby nodded meekly.

"Where is it?" she inquired evenly.

This had been what Dobby had been dreading and he began noticeably shaking for he knew all about the Room of Requirement and he also knew why Umbridge was asking about it. He really didn't want to tell her where it was. He told himself he was a free elf and did not have to tell.

"Answer me!" Umbridge demanded. "I am the boss around here!" she added, pointing her wand threateningly at him.

Dobby could see he had no way out of this terrible situation, and he was very upset and practically in tears as he told her. "On the seventh floor... past the tapestries," he squeaked out helplessly.

"Very good," said Umbridge coolly as she put her wand away. "Keep this a secret all of you," she ordered just before leaving.

All the elves were still quite shaken up even after she was gone, especially Dobby for he suddenly felt once again like a very bad elf as it seemed he had betrayed Harry Potter. He hurriedly ran up to the far corner of the wall and began banging his head against it.

Nifty looked shocked as she ran up to him and tried to stop him. "What on Earth is Dobby punishing himself for?"

"Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby! Dobby told Harry Potter about the Come and Go Room so he could have secret meetings there and now he has told on him! Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!" he exclaimed in between his banging.

"Then you must warning Harry Potter he is in danger of being found out before it's too late!" Nifty said urgently.

Dobby abruptly ceased his head banging, his eyes wide with realization. "Of course! Dobby should have thought of that! Bad Dobby!" He ran up to the oven which was heated and slammed his fingers in the door, screaming in pain as he did so.

"Dobby must hurry!" exclaimed Nifty, not liking to see him in such a state.

Dobby then apparated, fingers red and burning, out of the kitchen. He came back minutes later, trembling and crying.

"What happened, Dobby? Did you make it in time?" asked Nifty anxiously.

Dobby nodded and buried his face in his hands sobbing.

"Dobby, please do not punish yourself anymore," Nifty begged, almost in tears herself.

"Dobby won't," he assured her through sniffles. "Harry Potter ordered Dobby not to, and to lie if Umbridge ma'am asks anything."

"Then we'll all be punished if she finds out!" Nifty exclaimed horror-struck.

Dobby wiped his eyes on the back of his burning hand and tried to stay composed as he exclaimed, "Harry Potter is worth all the punishment in the world, because Harry Potter is a good-hearted wizard who set Dobby free and gave Dobby clothes and offered Dobby a seat when first they meet!"

Nifty nodded understandingly, while all the other elves looked at Dobby with fear and disapproval and some whispered, "Bad Dobby!"

* * *

The next day as the elves were cooking breakfast and cleaning the kitchens they whispered among themselves such things as, "Yes, it's true, Master Dumbledore has left Hogwarts!", "That's what I heard!", and "Now Professor Umbridge is the new Headmistress!", "Oh no!"

Hearing this made Dobby sadder than ever, as though he were now beyond tears. But he resolved to keep serving the students well, especially Harry Potter.

Then suddenly Professor Umbridge came bursting in. "You have not done as I ordered! You have not kept my secrets!" She glared accusingly at Dobby.

There was then the sound of dishes crashing to the floor and a series of frightened gasps from the elves as they all cowered and backed away from the terrifying old hag.

Umbridge took out her wand and aimed at for all the elves at once. "Crucio!" she cried out and at once all the elves bent over and writhing in great pain.

Dobby, who had hidden behind a cupboard, watched as Nifty was cursed and now filled with rage and remorse he leaped out and stood before Umbridge as he exclaimed, "They all was keeping secrets, Dobby was not!"

Umbridge picked Dobby up by his ears. "You will be punished severely for this!" she declared harshly. "And you will no longer receive payment!"

The other elves continued to cower, while Nifty had covered her eyes with her hands, unable to look at them.

Dobby understood why he was being punished quite well, and yet at the same time he was also remembering his old masters, the evil Malfoy family and how he no longer served them, so why should he serve someone who was even worse than they were?

Using his magic, he freed himself from Umbridge's grasp. He stood on his feet firmly as he looked her straight in the eye and yelled out, "Umbridge is a bad witch, she is! Dobby is quitting! He would rather starve than serve you, ma'am!"

The other elves began gasping and squealing, especially Nifty who whispered, "Dobby, no!" under her breath.

That night Dobby sat on his little elf bunk and looked down at his shaking hands. He knew in his heart he had done both a good thing and a bad thing all at once. But what would he do now that he had quit? Could he still live at Hogwarts? And if he did would Umbridge kick him out? And whatever happened to Master Dumbledore, how could he have abandoned them like this? And what was more was he feared Harry Potter would still need him, and especially now.

Dobby wanted to cry as he thought about these things, and yet he was just too miserable to do so. After a while, Winky came in holding a bottle of butterbeer. She looked at Dobby and in her eyes he could tell she had heard everything.

She walked over to him and sat down beside him and offered him a sip of butterbeer which he accepted, feeling that he could use something to take his mind off of things.

After a short silence Winky spoke, "What will we do now? Where will we go?"

"Dobby doesn't know," he replied. "But whatever we do, Winky and Dobby will stay together," he promised as he clasped her hands in his own.


	16. Chapter 16

If there were such a thing as a prize for looking both comical and sad at the same time, Dobby would surely win it now as he stood before Harry, Ron, and Hermione wearing ten hats on his head, three ties around his neck, and five pairs of socks which came up to the knees of a pair of polka-dot short pants. There were tears in his eyes and he was holding a suitcase in one hand and clutching a handkerchief in the other. Winky was at his side, hiccuping slightly and carrying a suitcase.

"Goodbye Harry Potter and friends," said Dobby mournfully.

"Goodbye Dobby! We'll miss you!" said Hermione as she hugged the small elf.

"Dobby will miss all of you too... Dobby really wishes he could stay, he does!" Dobby began to cry.

"It's alright, Dobby," said Harry soothingly. "You're doing the right thing, I'd do the same if only I could. Besides, Dumbledore can't be gone for good, you know?

Dobby blew his nose loudly into his handkerchief and replied, "Dobby will come back the moment Master Dumbledore returns," he promised. "Till then, it's farewell. And," he added to Harry, "Dobby is sorry if he got Harry Potter in trouble again."

"Think nothing of it," Harry assured him. "It really wasn't your fault."

"Goodbye Dobby, and good luck," said Ron.

Dobby and Winky then turned and apparated outside of the Hogwarts grounds. They looked behind them and saw the glimmer of the castle in the distance.

"Well, where do we go now?" asked Winky timidly.

"We go wherever the road will take us, Dobby supposes," he replied, a little uncertainly.

So they did and they started along a road which led them though a thick forest, the further they went the more immense the trees became and the branches overhead seemed to be blocking out the sunlight. As the day wore on it began to grow colder as well.

Winky shivered slightly and then there was a snapping noise heard from behind them and she quickly clutched onto Dobby out of fear.

"Wha-What was tha-that?" she asked trembling.

"I-It was ju-just a twig snapping underfoot," replied Dobby, startled at her sudden embrace. "Come on," he urged.

The forest grew darker and darker, and colder and colder, and more strange and eerie sounds could be heard, some were just normal sounds like the hooting of owls or the chirping of crickets, but there were other sounds that were less recognizable.

They suddenly began to hear the sound of clattering hooves on the forest floor. Dobby sensed what it was and he grew very nervous as it approached them briskly, and Winky embraced him closely yet again and they held onto each other as they stood frozen in place, watching and waiting.

Then from out of the trees emerged a figure with the body of a horse and the upper torso of a man. He was a centaur. He looked at them with indifference at first, and then his gaze softened as he noticed how alone and afraid they seemed.

"What are two young elves like you doing here in the Forbidden Forest?"

"This is the Forbidden Forest!" exclaimed Dobby in horror. "Bad Dobby! Um... We are running away from Hogwarts, we are now, because it is now being controlled by an evil toad-faced hag named Umbridge."

The centaur's grave face hardened somewhat at the mention of the name. "Oh yes, how I do remember her! I swear if we ever catch her in our wood again...!"

"Uh... Beg pardon, sir," said Winky. "But we seem to be lost around here. You see, we don't have any plan of where to go to."

"Can you help us?" asked Dobby hopefully.

The centaur was smiling gently now. "Of course," he replied. "Over at the left end of the forest there rests the cabin of the friendly half-giant known as Ruebeus Hagrid. He is a good friend of ours and we know he would be delighted to have a pair of house-elves to live with and work for him."

Dobby's countenance brightened considerably and Winky looked very much relieved. "We thank you most gratefully, Mr. Centaur, sir!" Dobby exclaimed.

The centaur then galloped away and Dobby and Winky headed into the direction he had pointed out to them which soon enough led them to fair-sized dome-shaped hut nestled in a clearing. There was smoke coming out of a chimney and there was also a patch of very large pumpkins growing in the yard nearby.

The two elves stepped up to the door and knocked softly. And after waiting a moment the door was opened by a man twice the size of average height with lots of black hair and matching long black beard and bushy black eyebrows and warm dark brown eyes.

"Hello there," he greeted in a friendly way. "Who might yeh two be?"

"We be Dobby and Winky, sir," replied Dobby. "Be you Hagrid the half-giant?"

"Yes, I be," he replied with a smile. "What can I do fer yeh?"

"We are now without a home and we would like to live with Mr. Hagrid, if it be alright with Mr. Hagrid, sir?"

"Just for a little while at least," added Winky. "All we ask is for sir to let us keep our clothes."

"O' course," said Hagrid warmly and stepping aside to allow them to enter. "After all, any one who is a friend of Dumbledore's is a friend o' mine."


	17. Chapter 17

For the next few weeks Dobby and Winky remained with Hagrid in his home and cooked and cleaned for him and kept the fire well fed and the pumpkins well watered. They were happy enough with him that the almost didn't mind the reason why they were, until one fateful day when they received word that Dumbledore had returned to Hogwarts and Umbridge had been sacked. The elves were overjoyed at this good news and Hagrid was sorry to see them leave but he understood and was happy as well.

"Good luck, and yeh take care o' yourselves now," said Hagrid as he bid them goodbye.

"We will! Goodbye Mr. Hagrid, sir! Thanks for everything!" exclaimed the two elves as they hugged the giant around the lower part of his legs and then went on their way.

They apparated back to the grounds of Hogwarts and went straight to the Headmaster's office where Dumbledore greeted them with a warm smile.

"Welcome back," he said with a twinkle in his blue eyes. "I was beginning to wonder where you two were."

Dobby then proceeded to explain rather nervously all that happened that led to their leaving. "Umbridge was a very bad witch, sir. So Dobby and Winky had to leave and we has been living with Hagrid, a friendly half-giant just outside of here. And now that sir has come back we is wanting our jobs back please?"

Dumbledore chuckled warmly as he said, "Well of course, of course! You both have your jobs back and a raise in salary!"

The elves gasped. "Oh sir is much too kind!" exclaimed Dobby. "But no raise please, for we is content in just having our old job with our old wages back, and have saved up so many galleons already."

Dobby smiled understandingly and replied, "Very well then as you both wish. Now you two should go back to the kitchens where I am sure you will be much welcomed back by your friends... and Dobby I know of a certain young boy who may want very much to see you as well."

So the two apparated into the Hogwarts kitchens where they found the others elves their working, and two their great surprise they were all wearing clothes. The males were wearing shirts and pants and the females had on skirts, all with the Hogwarts emblem printed on the front. They quickly all stopped and gathered around Winky and Dobby welcoming them back.

"Welcome home!" they all exclaimed in unison. Nifty ran up to Dobby and embraced him tightly.

"You were right, Dobby," said one elf named Simmy. "Umbridge was a very bad witch! She was really bad to us all and gave us punishments often and for no reason."

"So," continued another elf whose name was Lindy. "When Umbridge left when Master Dumbledore returned we all asked him for clothes as new Hogwarts uniforms."

"You see," said Nifty. "While we do wish to stay at Hogwarts forever we also want to be able to leave if a bad witch or wizard take Master Dumbledore's place again."

"We are also sorry we ever called you a bad elf," added Jilly.

Dobby smiled, he was much pleased. "Dobby accepts your apologies, he is just glad to be back. Now if you excuse Dobby he must go see Harry Potter."

So saying, Dobby apparated out of the kitchen and into Harry's dormitory where he found him sitting on his bed and tucking some things away into a suitcase.

"Hello, it is Dobby, sir! Dobby has come back!" he announced his presence joyfully.

Harry turned around slowly and smiled a smile which looked rather forced. "Hello, Dobby. Welcome back," he said, as though he were struggling to sound happy.

Dobby's ears drooped slightly as he noticed Harry's eyes were lined with a light redness. "What is wrong? Is Harry Potter not happy to see Dobby?"

"Of course I am, Dobby," Harry assured him quickly. "It's just I miss Sirius. You see he's... he's gone."

"Gone?!" Dobby repeated, his ears pricked up in alarm.

"Yes, he's... dead," said Harry, his eyes drooping downward.

"Oh no! What happened?" exclaimed Dobby.

"Remember those dreams I told you I was having? Well, I had a dream that Sirius had gone to the Department of Mysterious and he was in danger and I took it as a real vision and went there, against Hermione's judgement. And it turned it had been a trick of Voldemort's and Sirius came to rescue me when the death eaters came and one of them, Bellatrix Lestrange, caused Sirus to fall through this dark veil, and Lupin said he was dead for he had gone off into the world... It's all my fault, isn't it?"

"No!" Dobby exclaimed at once. "No it is never Harry Potter's fault! It is the fault of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named only!"

"But if I had only worked harder at occlumency, took it more seriously, then Voldemort would not have been able to get to me and Sirius would be alive. It is my fault. I'll never see him again. He was the closest I had to a family member, he was the only one I could really talk to. I wanted to go live with him, and now I'll never get to, ever!" Harry stamped his foot on the floor and then collapsed onto his bed again, tears streaming from his eyes down his face.

Dobby himself had begun to cry as Harry had been speaking. He really felt very sorry for him, especially after he had told him he would always have his godfather to talk to, though at the time he had thought he would. He got up onto Harry's bed and embraced him and cried with him for a while, then he took out his handkerchief and began wiping away Harry's tears as they fell.

"Dobby understands how Harry Potter feels," he said sniffling. "Harry Potter never got to know his parents, but he did get to know Sirius and so now he is mourning twice as hard for both losses. Dobby never got to know his parents either. He was raised for the first five years of his life in an elf orphanage. He always wondered what it was like to have people who loved him for a long time and now that he has he would do anything for them if they were in trouble just as Harry Potter wants to do, and he would have done the same for Sirius if he were in your shoes."

"First my parents, and then Cedric, and now Sirius," Harry said still in mourning, "I can't help but wonder who will be next, and I can only hope it won't be someone I love again."

"In the elf world we have a saying," said Dobby looking into Harry's tear filled eyes. "That the ones who love us never leave us, and when they die their love for us only grows deeper and stronger as does ours for them and they forever inside of us and we'll be with us in our hardest times."

Harry smiled through his tears. "You know, Dumbledore said something similar to me when I met Sirius two years ago." Then he looked more serious and solemn as he looked deep into Dobby's big caring eyes and said, "Dobby promise me you'll at least never leave me."

"Dobby promises Master Harry Potter," he said.

Harry gave him a curious look.

Dobby realized his mistake and quickly corrected it. "Dobby means Harry Potter, sir!"

Then he apparated out of the room as he was embarrassed with himself. He really wasn't sure why he had called Harry Master seemingly out of the blue, but he was sure of one thing, although he would always be free and proud of it if ever he could have another Master it could only be Harry Potter.


	18. Chapter 18

"And... then you called Harry Potter Master?" Nifty exclaimed after Dobby had told her about his conversation with Harry yesterday.

Dobby nodded, feeling the color rising in his cheeks as he did so.

"But why?" asked Nifty incredulously.

"Dobby doesn't know," he admitted with his ears drooping sadly.

"Winky thinks she knows," said Winky. "House elves can't be truly happy without someone to care for, and Dobby has always wanted to to take care of Harry Potter, and now it seems he is in a way and so when Harry Potter wants Dobby to promise never to leave him Dobby's desire made itself known."

As Dobby listened to Winky he felt in his heart she was absolutely right and it startled him somewhat that he wasn't quite happy as a free elf.

"But what will Dobby do about it?" he wondered aloud.

Nifty spoke up at once. "Dobby will ask Harry Potter to make Dobby his personal house elf."

All the elves in the room turned to look at Nifty in shock, a few gasps were heard and some even seemed to be muttering something under their breath about Nifty being crazy.

Nifty however remained focused. "Harry Potter is almost an of age wizard now and old enough for his own house elf," she continued. "So all Dobby has to do is show Harry Potter how much he cares about him and when the time is right just ask him."

Dobby smiled at Nifty. She knew him so well and she always seemed to come up with the solution to his worries.

"Winky knows how Dobby feels," Winky added. "She would give anything to have someone to care for again, she would," Winky stifled a choked sob and reached for her butterbeer again.

Dobby looked sympathetically over at Winky. He couldn't bear to see her suffering so for he felt she didn't deserve it for she was the most good elf he had ever known and he had known her since before he had come to Hogwarts. He wished there were something more he could do for her than what he was already.

Just then there was a loud pop and a crack and a new house elf appeared before them. He looked very old and had wiry hair growing out of his ears and he wore only a dirty rag around his waist like a loincloth. His eyes were large and bloodshot and looked around at them all with such loathing that a few elves stepped farther away from him.

Dobby however maintained his politeness. "Hello," he said amiably. "I is Dobby, who is you?"

The old elf scowled at him fiercely as he spoke in a dry hoarse voice that sounded like an old frog's croak. "I is Kreacher. I serve the most noble and ancient House of Black."

"Then what is you doing here?" inquired Dobby curiously.

"I was sent here by Harry Potter," Kreacher snarled sounding offended.

"But why would Harry Potter send you here?" asked Dobby cluelessly.

"Harry Potter is my master now and I must obey his wishes," Kreacher said with even more loathing than before.

Dobby stared in great shock at the old elf. Kreacher was Harry Potter's house elf? But how was this possible?

"Harry Potter is your master," he repeated slowly. "But how?"

"Kreacher was inherited to him after the death of his godfather Sirius as Harry Potter is his heir," Kreacher explained seethingly.

Dobby felt like someone had pounded a stake into his heart for it seemed his dream of being Harry Potter's own house elf would not come true now.

"What an insolent brat the Potter boy is!" Kreacher exclaimed.

Dobby instantly forgot his sorrow as his blood began to boil with rage at Kreacher's words. "Kreacher must choose his words more wisely, for Harry Potter is his master!" he exclaimed.

"Kreacher does not want the Potter boy to be his master, no he doesn't!" Kreacher said much louder. "He belongs rightfully to Black cousin Bellatrix!"

"Bellatrix... Lestrange?" inquired Dobby, not liking the sound of the name.

Kreacher nodded vigorously. "Oh yes! Kreacher's old Mistress would want nothing more than for him to be belonging to the pure of blood and not the mud of blood or the friend of the mudbloods!"

"But Bellatrix Lestrange was the murderer of Kreacher's old master Sirius," Dobby exclaimed, thinking the old elf did not know this fact. "Kreacher not know this?"

"Oh yes! Kreacher knows!" he exclaimed vehemently. "An ungrateful blood traitor his old master was! He deserved the death he got! Kreacher made sure of it!"

There was then a collective gasp from all of the elves in the room, especially from Dobby who was now overflowing with rage.

"Kreacher is a bad elf! A very bad elf! He is the worst elf ever he is!" he shouted. "Sirius was a great man, he was! He defended and fought against He Who Must Not Be Named, he did!"

"Kreacher doesn't care!" Kreacher shouted back. "Kreacher hates Sirius as much as Sirius hated him!"

"No house elf should hate their master! It is rep-repu- It's against the rules!" Dobby shouted with his teeth and fists clenched. "You Kreacher do not deserve to belong to the great Harry Potter, you do not!"

"Kreacher never wanted to belong to the Potter brat!" Kreacher shouted back. "Kreacher will never serve him and he hopes he comes to the same fate as his worthless old git of a godfather, he does!"

Now this was too much for Dobby for Kreacher had finally gone too far. Dobby raised up two clenched fists and stuck out the two index fingers on them and the next moment there was a blast of electricity which engulfed Kreacher's whole body and threw him over backwards.

When the blast of electricity cleared away Kreacher was laying unconscious on the floor with electric sparks going on and off all around his body.

"What did Dobby do?" asked Winky as she came out of hiding from the blast.

"Nothing a truly devoted friend of a wizard wouldn't do in a case like this!" declared Nifty. "Dobby has just put an old elves curse on Kreacher and when he wakes up he won't remember who he is for a while and when he does if he insults his masters again he will receive another shock like before!"

A half hour later Kreacher slowly came to and lifted his head up and glanced around him in confusion. "Where am I?... Who am I?... What am I?" he asked in a befuddled voice.

Nifty reached out to help him up. "You are in the Hogwarts kitchen, you are," she said quickly. "And you work here, you do. And it's almost time for dinner."


	19. Chapter 19

So for the few weeks Kreacher went along with the other elves doing chores in the Hogwarts kitchens and towers and got along with everyone indifferently until the spell slowly began to wear off of him. He remembered who he was and where he came from and when at last he remembered about Harry Potter he turned viciously onto Dobby again and gave a particularly nasty insult about him and Harry.

"Dobby is a most disgraceful house elf, he is. To be friends with an in inbred muggle raised son of a mudblood. He should belong to him for he is also an inbred piece of slime!"

This was more than too much for Dobby and for the first time in his life he really lost his temper and started to beat on Kreacher with his bare hands for a simple curse wouldn't satisfy him at the moment. And in the middle of their brawl Harry had called for Kreacher and with Dobby on top of him they had both apparated before him and had to be physically separated by he and Ron.

Then Harry had given them both the task of tailing after Draco Malfoy to see if did anything suspicious or out of the ordinary. Kreacher, Dobby could tell was positively unnerved at the very idea, while he himself was delighted at doing anything for Harry Potter. Though truth be told he was more than a bit nervous about spying on the person he used to belong to and had a great fear of being caught and so he kept quiet all the time and used an invisibility spell most of the time.

Dobby and Kreacher crept in the shadows from dawn till dusk following the young Malfoy from his dorm to the Great Hall at meals and to his regular classes during the day, and sometimes to the Slytherin Common Room in the evenings, and at night they stayed awake by his bed and kept watch over him.

Dobby stayed awake at least. His eyelids were drooping sleepily and he was yawning constantly as he stayed by his former young master's bedside. He hadn't slept in two days so far, but he told himself this was for Harry Potter and he had to get some information out of this that would please him and he couldn't slack off for anything.

He glanced over at Kreacher in the corner beside him and found him dozed off and snoring. Dobby frowned, of course Kreacher wouldn't remain loyal to Harry Potter, and he was his own master no less! His own master... those words really stung Dobby's heart. Of course Dobby mainly disliked Kreacher because of his disrespect for Harry Potter, but also because he belonged to Harry Potter, in the eyes of Wizarding Law anyway, which made him furious for an old geezer of an elf with such a disloyal heart wasn't fit to even polish Harry Potter's shoes!

He tried and tried to stay awake but it was getting harder and harder, with the rhythmic snores from Kreacher and also the boys in the dormitory. Dobby's eyes slowly began to close as he let out a long drawn out yawn, and then he was awakened with a start as he heard the audible crack of another house elf entering.

He looked up and saw Nifty standing in front of him. Her face held a very concerned expression.

"What on Earth has Dobby been doing these past days?" she asked almost scoldingly. "You has hardly been in the kitchens at all and have never come to the elves dorm to sleep! What is wrong?"

Dobby then explained all about the task Harry Potter had given he and Kreacher. "So you sees, Dobby must keep tailing young Malfoy and not leave his side for anything, not even sleep."

Nifty nodded understandingly. "You is certainly doing a better job of it than Kreacher is, you are," she observed, looking at the snoozing older elf in the corner.

Dobby smiled weakly and then yawned again with his eyes and ears drooping.

Nifty looked very concerned again and put her hand to her chin as if thinking of something and then her face lit up as she whispered, "Nifty knows just the remedy for Dobby's sleepiness, she does! She will go get the herbs from Professor Snape's office, she will!"

And with that she dissapparated with another crack, and moments later she returned holding a small jar full of dark red herbs.

"These herbs have been used by wizards throughout the ages to keep them awake during night missions," she explained as she opened the jar and handed them to Dobby.

Dobby promptly began eating the herbs, and to his surprise he found they tasted a lot like dehydrated strawberries.

A moment later there was another crack and Winky appeared at Nifty's side holding a bottle of butterbeer.

"Hello, Dobby," she said. "Winky thought you would like a sip of butterbeer to wash down the herbs with."

Dobby smiled appreciatively at the two female elves who'd come to mean so much to him.

"Dobby thanks you both, he does," he said as he took a sip of butterbeer, not too much of course.

Then Dobby stayed wide awake throughout the remainder of the night, then as the morning sunlight crept in through the windows Malfoy began stir behind his bed curtains.

Dobby and Kreacher, who was now awake, waited and watched as Malfoy got out of bed and changed out of his pajamas and into his robes and then left the dorm along with the other boys for the Great Hall.

As the two elves followed him, Kreacher sniffed huffily and muttered quietly so only Dobby could hear: "A bright young fellow Draco Malfoy is! Kreacher is wishing to be his servant! What would Mistress think if she knew he was spying on him like this, oh dear!"

Dobby frowned disapprovingly. "Malfoy is a very bad boy and comes from a very bad family of dark wizards he does, and Dobby is happy to be free from them!" he declared as he inwardly told himself to not punish himself now.

"Dobby is a stupid, brainless elf to be wearing clothes, he is!" Kreacher snarled hatefully. "Kreacher would be ashamed and embarrassed to be seen wearing such ugly things as socks he would be!"

Dobby was about to retort that he would feel the same way to be practically naked like Kreacher was, but then he thought better of it and replied curtly, "Dobby doesn't care what Kreacher thinks! Dobby is very happy to be free because he can now only obey those who he wants to and have any new master he wants if he ever wants one again. Dobby thinks Kreacher would be better off a free elf than bound by the spirit of his dead Mistress!"

Then before Kreacher could make a grab at him he ran ahead and hid underneath the Slytherin table beside Malfoy's seat and waited patiently.

Breakfast went by without incident and then Dobby and Kreacher tailed after Malfoy through his next few classes, and then during the middle of the daybreak, they followed him up to the seventh floor where he went past the tapestries of the painting of the troll and then met with a few friends of his and entered a room which Dobby and Kreacher had to stay outside of and try to listen at the door for any information they could gather.


	20. Chapter 20

Dobby apparated into Harry's dormitory carrying a small silver tree with a cup of tea on it. He approached Harry's bed and finding him still mostly asleep he took a little bell off of the tray he had with him and rang it lightly next to Harry's ear which promptly awakened him.

"Huh? What? Oh! Good morning, Dobby," said Harry as he sat up groggily and reached for his glasses.

"Good morning, Harry Potter, sir!" Dobby replied cheerily. "Dobby thought Harry Potter might like some morning tea."

"Yes, thank you, Dobby," said Harry smiling as he took the teacup and began to sip on it slowly.

"So what has Harry Potter been doing this year?" asked Dobby.

Harry set his teacup down. "Me and Dumbledore have been looking into his pensive of memories about Vol- You-Know-Who and we've just found some important information." He then explained in detail how he had managed to retrieve the memory from Professor Slughorn and with it found out about the Horocruxes.

"There are six of them," he said. "And me and Dumbledore have already found and destroyed two of them and Dumbledore thinks he knows of the next three and he agreed to let me come with him to destroy another one."

"So valiant of Harry Potter, it is," said Dobby with his eyes full of admiration.

"It's the best I can do for now," Harry explained. "Dumbledore says the prophesy may have said I have to kill You-Know-Who but whether I do is up to me as it was He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named that got us into it. He also says I have the power to stand up to him just because I have the ability to love."

"Dobby knows Harry Potter does," Dobby said, remembering all the times he had shown him mercy, something which he felt sure no other wizard could be great enough to do.

"Well, Dumbledore also says to defeat him I also have to be marked as his equal," Harry went on. "And I just don't think I can be."

"Dobby is sure Harry Potter can, he has done so much already," Dobby exclaimed. After a moment of thoughtful silence as Dobby watched Harry drinking his tea he asked, "Did Harry Potter find out what young Malfoy was doing in the Come and Go Room?"

Harry gave a deep sigh of frustration and shook his head. "No, and I've just done and said everything I can think of to get the room to appear, it seems to be hopeless."

"Oh. Dobby is sorry to hear that," he said. "But," he added. "Dobby did do good at the job Harry Potter gave him, didn't he?"

"Yes, Dobby. You sure did," Harry said smiling at him.

"Much better than Kreacher did, didn't Dobby?" asked Dobby further.

Harry nodded vigorously.

"Kreacher is a vile, nasty old elf, he is!" Dobby exclaimed with passion.

"Yes, he is," agreed Harry.

"And Harry doesn't want him to be his house elf, does he?" Dobby continued furtively.

""No, I don't, I really don't," Harry assured him. "I only agreed to take him so he wouldn't go to Bellatrix Lestrange like he wanted to, and I sent him here so I wouldn't have to put up with him, and I'm sorry I laid that burden onto you and the other elves."

"Harry Potter deserves a much better servant than Kreacher!" Dobby went on. "He deserves one who would do anything for him and be by his side no matter what happened, who would be his own devoted slave... like Dobby."

Harry sat up straight in his bed and looked at Dobby with shock written all over his features. "You? What do you mean, Dobby?" he asked incredulously.

Dobby took in a deep breath for he knew it was now or never. "Dobby means he wants to be Harry Potter's house elf, he has always wanted to ever since he first heard about him."

Harry looked at Dobby in surprise for a long moment before he sighed and said, "Look, Dobby, you can't be my house elf."

Dobby felt like his heart had been smashed to pieces at the sound of Harry's words and it was only the shock of it which kept him from bursting into tears. "Why not?" he asked as he held out his hands to Harry in a pleading gesture. "Dobby would find and destroy all of the Horocruxes for Harry Potter if he would only ask him to."

"That's just it, Dobby," Harry said pointedly. "That is exactly what I don't want you to do, it is far too dangerous. You could get seriously harmed or even killed doing that. There is no doubt You-Know-Who would kill you in an instant the moment he found out you were working for me. You can help me in anything as long as it doesn't involve the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters."

"Dobby doesn't care if he dies, he would willingly die a thousand deaths over for Harry Potter's life," Dobby conceded."

"No, Dobby, no!" Harry said persistently. "You are one of the only true friends I have in the whole world next to Ron, Hermione, Hagrid, and Dumbledore. I can't afford to lose any of you I really can't. Also you being my friend is another reason why I can't possibly make you my house elf. You see, friends do not enslave each other and I set you free in the first place so I would be worse than a death eater if I was to take it away from you. You like your clothes, don't you?"

Dobby frowned miserably as he looked down at his socked feet at felt deep in his heart that Harry Potter was right. "Dobby does like his clothes," he agreed. "Socks are his most favorite thing... but Harry Potter means so much more to him though!" he looked up at Harry again begging with tear filled eyes.

Harry reached out and wiped a stray tear from Dobby's crestfallen face.

"Dobby let's not talk about this anymore, it's only making us both sadder," Harry pleaded. "Just promise me you will never throw yourself into any mortal danger on my account."

Dobby hesitated a moment with his lips trembling terribly and finally he just nodded, and then he apparated out of the dormitory and back into his own where he laid on his bed and sobbed for a while.

Then when he had calmed down he tried to reassure himself that Kreacher was so old he was bound to die on his own in a few years time and Harry Potter would surely defeat the Dark Lord somehow or another and then once it was safe for everyone perhaps he would get his chance then.


	21. Chapter 21

One day Dobby came into the kitchen and found all of the other elves moving about slowly and doing their chores in a very unenthusiastic manner. No one was smiling or humming as they normally were and everyone's eyes looked either weary or watery. This gloomy atmosphere made Dobby feel very uneasy as he didn't see any reason for it.

"Is no one happy today?" he asked nervously as he looked around him.

The other elves all turned their attention toward Dobby as though they had never seen him before, like he'd come from another world.

"Has Dobby not heard?" asked one elf.

"Dobby has not heard," said Nifty as she approached him slowly.

"What has Dobby not heard?" Dobby asked Nifty as he felt a slight chill run through him for he now recognized the looks in their eyes as the look Harry Potter had in his when Cedric and Sirius died.

Nifty leaned in close to him and whispered into his ear. "Master Dumbledore is dead."

Dobby gasped quietly in shock and put his hands up to his mouth. It couldn't be true, could it? It just couldn't be!

"When? How?" he mumbled tremblingly.

"Last night..." replied Nifty with tears gathering in her eyelids. "There was fight with death eaters and in the midst of it Master Dumbledore was killed."

"By who?" asked Dobby in horror.

Nifty grimaced painfully. "By Professor Snape."

Dobby was now more shocked than ever. He had never been particularly fond of Professor Snape, but he didn't think he would ever stoop so low.

"What? No! He couldn't have!" Dobby exclaimed hoarsely.

"But he did," Nifty said lowering her head as her tears began to fall now.

"But how does Nifty know?" asked Dobby as he felt a painful lump forming in his throat.

"Nifty overhears conversations among students while cleaning," she replied miserably. "They've said Harry Potter was with Master Dumbledore at the time."

Dobby knew then he just had to speak to Harry Potter about what he had just heard to confirm it. He was still holding onto a shred of hope that it wasn't true.

"Excuse Dobby," he said quickly. "He has to speak with Harry Potter."

Then he apparated out of the kitchen and found himself in Master Dumbledore's office. He looked up and saw that the chair behind the desk was empty and also that Fawkes the Phonex was nowhere to be seen and he felt a deep hollow feeling in his chest as the realization that this had to mean Master Dumbledore was no longer at the school.

He turned and found Harry Potter standing by what used to be Fawkes's perch. Harry Potter's hair was messier than usual and he looked completely disheveled as if he hadn't gotten much sleep in the night and his eyes were red and puffy. He seemed completely oblivious to the world around him.

Dobby approached him and tugged at his pant leg to get his attention and when he turned to look at him he spoke in an unusually quiet voice. "Dobby hears the most things in the kitchens, Harry Potter, sir. Most dreadful, utterly terrible things, sir. The other elves, sir, they tells Dobby that D-Dumbledore... That the Headmaster is... is..."

Harry nodded silently the truth of everything clearly visible in his eyes behind his glasses.

The tears finally broke free from Dobby's eyes as his heart now felt like it had broken in half. The tears fell down his neck and soaked the front collar of his shirt. In his grief he collapsed onto the floor and wailed as loudly as he could.

"D-Dumbledore was so g-g-good to D-Dobby, sir, almost as good as Harry Potter sir. He is hiring when no one else is, g-giving him pay and holidays!"

"Shh..." Harry whispered as he bent down to pick up the sobbing elf. "It's... it's alright, Dobby," Harry said as he held him against his shoulder and cradled him like a child.

"Dobby is without a master now!" he howled. "There will never be another master like Dumbledore! Where will Dobby go! What will Dobby do!"

"I don't know, Dobby," replied Harry soothingly. "Some have been talking about closing the school down, but whether they do or not I will not be coming back next year! I am going to complete the journey we started out to find the last of the horcruxes."

The thought of no more Hogwarts and no more Harry Potter was a pain that was simply to horrible for Dobby to bear. "All is lost!" he wailed, soaking the top of the sleeve of Harry's robe.

"No, it isn't, Dobby," Harry said persistently as he held Dobby up to look into his face. "Dumbledore wouldn't want us to lose all our hope just because he's gone. And he'll only ever be gone if we stop being loyal to him. Remember what you told me last year when Sirius died, that the ones we love are never truly gone from our lives, that remembering them only increases their love. If we remember everything we learned from Dumbledore, he'll still be with us somehow. He'll be guiding us along our way, you and I."

Dobby slowly stopped crying as Harry was speaking to him and realized that Harry was quite right. He couldn't be weak and worry about what would come next, he had to be strong and plunge ahead with his head up.

"That is very wise, Harry Potter, sir! Dobby sees you is right. Though Dobby is still very sad, sir, he thinks he could go on living." He sniffled, then looked at Harry with adoration in his eyes. "After all, sir, Dobby still has Harry Potter sir! Please excuse Dobby for a moment, sir, Dobby is going to the kitchens to reassure the other elves that all is not lost, sir!"

Dobby hugged Harry one last time and then apparated out of his embrace and back into the kitchens where he stood in front of the other elves and spoke with his tearful face betraying his strong voice.

"Listen all you elveses! Our Master Dumbledore is gone but we mustn't let it weaken us! We must honor his memory in our hearts and remain loyal to it. He will be with us in our spirit through to whatever end we face! We must be brave for him and for Harry Potter! We must be free elves and stay or go wherever it is we choose! And when the time comes we must fight and defend for the sake of our old master and for our dear friend Harry Potter!"

Tears filled Nifty's eyes. "Dobby is right!" she exclaimed. "Let us give him an elves' cheer!"

All the other elves cheered and applauded Dobby's speech for they knew he spoke truthfully.


	22. Chapter 22

Dobby and most of the other elves sat around the Hogwarts grounds knitting together various kinds of flowers for a memorial wreath to put on the school's doors. Dobby strung the flowers together with loving care and every once in a while a few tears would fall from his eyes and dampen a flower's petals. It was still so hard for him to believe Master Dumbledore was really gone even after he had been to the funeral and seen him placed in the white tomb.

Harry Potter had left hours ago on the Hogwarts Express and he knew he wouldn't come back next year so there seemed no point in staying at Hogwarts regardless if the school closed or not. The world looked so bleak now and it was hard to find any ray of light left. He tried to search for one and then he looked over at Winky as she delicately sewed a white lily into their wreath and smiled slightly at the sight.

When at last they completed the wreath they went up to the castle doors and Winky climbed onto Nifty's shoulders and Dobby in turn climbed up onto hers and he placed the wreath upon the door handle with loving care.

As they were all heading back inside Dobby heard footsteps approaching them and he spotted a figure coming out of the corner of his eye. He looked and for a brief moment he thought he was seeing Master Dumbledore, but then he noticed the wizard's hair and beard were more gray than silvery white and his hat and robes were a darker color, though his eyes matched Dumbledore's.

"Greetings, sir," said Dobby with a small bow. "What brings you to Hogwarts?"

"I am Aberforth Dumbledore, the brother of the Headmaster who died here," he said solemnly. "I have come to pay my respects and offer my condolences to the school."

Dobby's little heart skipped a beat for he had no idea Master Dumbledore had a brother. "Such an honor it is, sir," he said bowing again. "I is Dobby, sir, and I had been working here for the past three years until now."

"What do you mean until now, may I ask?" asked Aberforth tentatively.

Dobby hung his head sadly. "The school is going to be closed down now that the Headmaster is gone," he explained. "Dobby cannot bear to stay here even so for he never would have come here if not for Master Dumbledore in the first place."

"Oh, I am so terribly sorry to hear that," said Aberforth in a kind voice much like his brother's. "But where will you go?"

"Dobby isn't sure," he admitted. "Dobby is a free elf though so he can go wherever he pleases."

"Well, if that's the case then you are very welcome to come live with me," said Aberforth. "I have no house elves of my own and would very much like one or two."

Dobby's heart skipped a beat again, this time with bittersweet joy for Aberforth now reminded him all the more of his dearly departed old Master. He embraced him weeping, "Oh thank you, sir! You is being so kind to a poor unfortunate house elf!"

Dobby quickly apparated into the kitchens and told all the other elves about his good fortune.

"So Dobby will now be living with Master Dumbledore's brother," he said.

"Can Winky come to," asked Winky hopefully. "Winky couldn't bear to part with Dobby at a time like this."

"Of course, Winky can come," Dobby assured her. "Dobby couldn't bear to part with Winky either."

Several other elves then also made known their desire to leave Hogwarts and come with Dobby to live with the brother of their old master.

Dobby packed away all of his clothes into a suitcase and helped Winky pack all of her things as well. The others elves owned no other clothes except for the ones they had on and so had no suitcases to pack.

Once they were all ready Dobby took hold of his suitcase and walked out of the elves dormitory. As he was walking out of the kitchen he passed by Nifty and looked curiously at her.

"Is Nifty not coming with Dobby?" he asked, with his lower lip trembling slightly.

"No," she replied. "Nifty cannot come with Dobby for Hogwarts is Nifty's home where she has lived all her life and where he family has lived for seven-hundred years and has seen lesser headmasters than Dumbledore. Nifty is sure her family would not want her to leave for any reason. Nifty hopes Dobby understands?"

Dobby nodded. "Dobby understands," he assured her, though his heart was breaking at the same time. Especially at what Nifty said next.

"Nifty loves Dobby!" she exclaimed as she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. "Nifty will never forget Dobby. Nifty hopes Dobby will do the same!"

Dobby gulped and quelled a sob as he nodded and tried to whisper back to Nifty but he found he couldn't quite get the words to form and anyways he was interrupted by the sound of Winky's own stifled sob from behind him.

So he just said, "Goodbye Nifty. Dobby thanks you for being his friend when he needed one."

Then with Nifty and many other elves waving goodbye to them they left Hogwarts, not knowing when or if ever they would return.


	23. Chapter 23

Dobby, Winky, and the elves who had chose to come with them lived for the next six months with Dumbledore's brother Aberforth and they went about their work as house elves normally did. Dobby thought of Harry Potter every day and often wondering where he was, what he was doing and if he was alright, most of all. It was because of this that Aberforth kept a special magic mirror at his side at all times and would look into it every day to look into what progress Harry Potter was making.

One day during this time, after Dobby and Winky had finished their chores they heard a loud crack come from behind them. They turned around and were quite surprised as well as unnerved to see Kreacher standing before them.

"Kreacher!" they both exclaimed in unison.

"What is you wanting here?" asked Dobby with his disdain for the ugly old elf clearly heard in his voice.

"Kreacher went to Hogwarts and the other elves told him Dobby had come here, so Kreacher has come here to apologize to Dobby personally," Kreacher said slowly in his croaky voice.

Dobby stared wide-eyed at him and wondered whether he heard him correctly. Kreacher was wanting to apologize to him?

"Kreacher takes back everything he has said about his master Harry Potter before," Kreacher continued woefully. "Kreacher sees now that Harry Potter is a very great, noble, and generous wizard above all else. He has given this to Kreacher." He showed them the locket around his neck.

He then proceeded to tell them the sad story of how he and his first master Regulus Black had been tricked into serving Voldemort when they were young and his old master had retaliated and replaced the horcrux locket with a fake one and had given the real one to Kreacher to destroy but Kreacher was never able to do so, and then the locket had been stolen a while ago by Mundungus Fletcher.

"So now," Kreacher tearfully concluded. "Master Harry Potter and his friends have gone to destroy the locket with the horcrux."

"Where is Harry Potter now?" Dobby wanted to know.

"Kreacher does not know, he is sorry," Kreacher said with tears running from his eyes. "Kreacher was at the House of Black awaiting their return when the Dark Lord's leaders show up and take over the house. Kreacher will no longer serve them and so he comes here to escape!" Kreacher let out a deep sob and cradled the locket in his hands as though it were the most precious thing in the world. "No one has been so good to Kreacher as Harry Potter has in so long!" he sobbed. "Kreacher gladly will live out the rest of his days as his faithful servant!"

Dobby's heart had sunk very deeply at Kreacher's words, and not just because it now seemed Harry Potter was lost and might be in trouble.

Some time later, Aberforth arrived home and held a very desperate expression on his face as he hurried into the kitchen and said urgently, "Harry Potter and his friends are in grave danger! They are being held prisoners in the home of the Malfoys! Look!"

Dobby and the other elves looked into the mirror and sure enough they saw Harry Potter, and many others in a dark dungeon which Dobby instantly recognized at once as belonging to his old master, Lucious Malfoy.

Dobby scowled at the image in the mirror and then a fierce, determined look came over his face. "Dobby will go at once to the Malfoy Manor and rescue Harry Potter and all his friendses!"

"Kreacher wants to go with Dobby!" Kreacher said exuberantly. "Kreacher will come and protect and his master!"

"No!" Dobby said quickly. "Kreacher is too old to survive such a dangerous place. But Dobby is young and strong and will survive it!"

"But Dobby," Winky said pleadingly. "The Malfoys are your old masters and they is bad, bad, dark wizards they is! They is hating you for being freed from them and if they find you in their home to save their prisoners they will kill you, they surely will!"

Dobby realized Winky was quite right. The Malfoys were bad wizards who hated him and there was a good chance he could be killed in his rescuing Harry Potter. He looked over at Kreacher and considered briefly letting him go in his place, but then he thought against it again as it was true a young and strong elf would have a better chance at this than an old and feeble one. And anyways, if he was to die he would have nevertheless have shown Harry Potter just how far his love, loyalty, and devotion to him extended, and if he was to live as he intended to do then he would have served the same purpose.

"Dobby must go, Winky," he told her gently. "Even if he is risking his life, but Harry Potter's life is worth the risk. And Dobby wants Winky to know," he added, "that she is very special to Dobby and always has been and always will be."

He then wrapped his arms around Winky and they kissed, both had tears running from their eyes.

"Winky loves Dobby," Winky whispered in his ear.

"Dobby loves Winky, too," he whispered back.

He took one last look at Winky and all the other elves and then vanished from sight.

"Dobby is one truly noble, brave, loyal house elf, he is,"Winky said to Kreacher to which he nodded.


	24. Chapter 24

Dobby felt a sudden blast of pain at his chest which seemed to consume his whole body, going almost to his heart and he collapsed onto the ground. He could feel the blood flowing through from him and soiling his clean clothes. He looked down and saw the knife that was stuck in his chest. It was the same knife that Bellatrix Lestrange had thrown at them, it had almost struck Harry but Dobby had stepped in front of him just a second before it could.

His eyes were wide open as he lay there and saw Harry Potter run up to him and he saw the horrified expression on Harry's face in the moonlight.

"Dobby? No! Dobby! Help!" Harry shouted into the night. Harry's friends and companions all came running up to them now and they knelt before Dobby's mortally wounded figure on the ground.

Dobby tried to focus on Harry and tried to speak, it was agony to get any words out though. "Harry... Potter..." he muttered feebly.

Just then Dobby felt the worse pain he had ever felt in his life he felt the knife being pulled out of his chest and causing a thicker spurt of blood from the wound of it. He let out a shrill scream which seemed to echo.

"He's still alive, but we have to get help for him now or he won't make it," he heard the voice of Hermoine Granger say tremblingly.

"Come on then!" Harry exclaimed as he scooped Dobby up into his arms and rushed with him at the house they were in front of.

Harry banged on the door as hard as he could with his left hand and some of the others joined in as well, and some shouted things like, "We need help!" and "We have a wounded friend!"

It was soon when the door was opened by a tall red-haired wizard dressed in a night robe.

"Harry Potter?" he said. "What are you all doing here?"

"Dobby helped us escape from the Death Eaters and Bellatrix Lestrange stabbed him, he's still alive and he needs help immediately!"

"Come in," said the wizard in the house stepping aside to let them in.

They all hurried into the small house and Dobby felt himself being laid down onto a bed and then he felt his clothes being removed from his body, his shirt and vest were almost soaked through with his blood, and his shorts also were stained, though his socks were able to be left on.

He then felt something thick and damp being pressed onto the wound in his chest and he let out a loud squeal of pain and agony again, and then again as the wound kept being pressed on and rubbed at.

Then he heard the person above him mutter, "Numbify!" and instantly most of the pain in his chest went stiff and he felt like his chest wasn't there as he could no longer feel it at all. He opened his eyes and saw the red-haired wizard with a blond-haired witch beside of him who was pressing on his wound right now, and he also saw Harry Potter and all his friends surrounding him with Hermoine, Luna, and Ron being the closest to him. He also could have sworn he saw traces of tears in Harry's eyes.

Once his wound had stopped bleeding the blonde-haired witch rubbed something over it, coating it thoroughly, and then she wrapped a thick layering of cloth bandages around his chest and back. She then gave him something to drink which she said would restore his lost blood.

As Dobby was drinking the blood-restorer he heard Harry speaking to the witch and wizard.

"He'll be alright, won't he?" Harry asked.

"He should be," replied the red-haired wizard. "A knife in the chest is fatal only if it's to the heart."

Dobby drank the last of the blood restorer and felt a warming sensation flowing through his body. He watched as Harry cam up to him and sat beside him.

"Thank you for coming and saving us, Dobby," Harry said speaking just above a whisper. "You were so brave back there."

"Harry Potter is worth saving," Dobby said with a weak smile. "Remember Dobby would do anything for Harry Potter."

"I'm only sorry that you had to get stabbed for it," Harry said looking down.

"Harry Potter is worth any pain," Dobby said.

Harry smiled as weakly as Dobby and then took Dobby's hand in his and squeezed it tightly. "We have to go now Dobby, so you stay here and just try stay strong for me, okay?"

"As Harry Potter wishes," Dobby replied. "Harry Potter is worth staying strong for."

Hermione then stepped up to the bedside and kissed Dobby tenderly on his forehead. "Thank you for saving us, Dobby," she whispered.

Dobby watched as they all left the room and he laid back on the pillows and went to sleep.

Three months later Dobby heard that Harry Potter had come to Hogwarts and the school had just been invaded by Voldemort and all his death eaters and though Dobby was far from fully recovered he got out of bed and apparated into the Hogwarts kitchen.

"Dobby, you've come back! Nifty was thinking she'd never see you again!" exclaimed Nifty as she ran up to him and embraced him which caused him to wince as she rubbed against his still heavily bandaged chest.

"Dobby, you is been wounded!" she gasped in horror.

"Dobby is alright," he assured her quickly. "It's just a cut really." Then he stood firmly as he addressed all the other elves.

"Dobby has come back to tell you the time has come for us to defend ourselves and fight against the Dark Lord's followers for the sake of Harry Potter!" he said in a strong voice which made him seem bigger than he actually was. "The death eaters is here now and we is must not be letting them overtake Hogwarts!"

So all the elves grabbed what objects they could find for weapons, cleavers, knives, rolling pins, and followed Dobby charging out of the kitchens and into the Great Hall.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" Dobby shouted as they entered the battle. "For Harry Potter, Defender of the House Elves! In the name of Master Dumbledore! Fight!"

It was shortly after the elves had joined in battle that Harry Potter revealed himself to Voldemort and they began circling each other and taunting each other. Dobby and the other elves watched in silent anticipation for they all knew what had to come soon, and at one point Dobby almost rushed to Harry's side but was held back by Nifty.

Harry told him the truth about Severus Snape, how he had never been on Voldemort's side and hadn't really killed Dumbledore, and also that Snape hadn't been the owner of the Elder Wand because it had been Draco Malfoy's and because Harry had managed to take it from him he was the rightful owner of it.

The two wizards each shouted out their spells at the same time, Voldmort's "Avada Kedavra!", Harry's "Exspelliarmous!" and then it happened. Voldemort was dead and gone for good this time.

Amidst all the cheering Harry came up to Dobby and said, "That was so brave of you Dobby, the way you led all the elves into battle like that, you're like a little knight."

Dobby looked down humbly a moment. "Harry Potter was very brave himself as he was facing down Lord Voldemort," he said, no longer afraid to say the name. "For a moment Dobby thought he would lose Harry Potter." Tears came to Dobby's eyes at the memory.

"I thought I was going to lose you too for a moment back at Bill and Fleur's cottage," said Harry tenderly. "And it made me realize how much you mean to me, so now I have a proposition for you."

Dobby's eyes brightened. "Anything, Harry Potter, sir," he said very eagerly.

"You know that Kreacher has reformed and he seems to like me now," Harry began. "But he is so old he can't live for many more years, and so after Kreacher dies would you like to become my personal house-elf?"

Dobby looked like he had just been born again as he jumped up and down and squealed with delight. "Dobby has never wanted anything more than to be Harry Potter's servant!" he exclaimed as he threw his arms around Harry's waist and hugged him rather hard.

Suddenly Dobby released his grip on Harry and looked up at him with a crestfallen expression. "But Dobby cannot for Dobby cannot leave Winky. Winky needs Dobby," he said sadly.

"Well, Winky can come too," said Harry

"She can?" Dobby looked as if Christmas had come early.

"Of course. You can be a pair of house elves," Harry assured him.

Dobby now hugged Harry even harder.

"Now there are going to be some rules when you work for me, Dobby," Harry went on.

"What rules, Harry Potter sir?" asked Dobby as he slowly released Harry from his embrace.

"First of all, you must always wear clothes and keep them as clean as possible," said Harry. "And second you must be paid one galleon a week and have one day off every month."

Dobby nodded, he was quite used to these things. "Yes, Harry Potter sir, anything you wish, sir."

Harry picked Dobby up in his arms and hugged him tightly against him as if he were a beloved child of his.

"I love you, Dobby," he said as Dobby sobbed joyfully into his shoulder. Even heroes can cry sometimes.


	25. Chapter 25

_Five years later,_

Dobby stood in front of mirror as he was dressing himself. Today was to be a very special day for him. He pulled his shirt over his head and then as he began to button the shirt up he looked at the thin white scar in the middle of his chest. It was his scar of pride. He had gotten it from saving the life of the person he loved most in the world, and Harry Potter had gotten his scar in a bit of a similar way so now they were all the more alike.

Next he put on a dark blue jacket and then proceeded to tie a matching bow-tie around his neck. As he finished with this, he noticed the door behind him opening and Nifty walking into the room and coming up behind him.

"Good morning, Nifty," Dobby said cheerily.

"Good morning, Dobby," Nifty replied with a small smile. She then began to look quite serious as she came up beside him. She looked like she was finding it difficult to speak. Dobby became concerned at this.

"Is anything wrong, Nifty?" he asked gently.

"No, nothing at all is wrong," Nifty assured him. Then she sighed and said, "It's just that Nifty is so happy for you and yet feels sad all at the same time too."

Dobby looked at her in confusion. "What does Nifty mean? How can that be?"

"Nifty means she is happy that Dobby and Winky are going to get married today, and after all marriage happens very rarely among us house-elves. And she is also more than happy Dobby will then be moving in with Harry Potter in Godric's Hollow as his servant as he always wanted to do. Nifty knows she should be happy about all these things for Dobby and she is! And yet... she is sad because she will really miss Dobby so terribly."

Dobby now understood completely. "Dobby will miss Nifty, too, he will," he said.

He then tenderly. He then wrapped his arms around Nifty and hugged her tightly and Nifty said, "Nifty has to confess to Dobby, she does, that she had always felt the same for Dobby that he feels now for Winky, she did."

Dobby pulled back and looked at Nifty briefly in shock. Then a light of understanding came into his eyes as he said, "Dobby at one time felt the same way for Nifty, too, he did. He found himself choosing Winky as he knew Winky was in need of someone to care for her, she was. And now Winky is happier than she ever was in her life to be Dobby's mate and Harry Potter's house-elf also, she is."

Nifty nodded and smiled. "Nifty knows, and she is happy for them both. She wouldn't want anything but happiness for her two closest friends in the world."

Then they were silent for a while until Dobby asked, "Would Nifty like to come and live with Dobby and Winky with Master Harry Potter?"

Nifty smiled sadly and shook her head gently as she said, "Nifty does not want to leave Hogwarts. It is her home as it has been that of her family's for seven centuries, it has."

Dobby's ears drooped slightly. But he nodded with understanding. Then he said, "Dobby will never forget Nifty, he won't."

"Nifty will never forget Dobby, either, she won't," Nifty promised him with tears coming to her eyes.

Dobby sniffled and then he asked, "Will Nifty at least like to be Winky's Maid of Honor?"

Nifty's eyes lit up as she exclaimed, "Oh yes! Nifty would love to!"

So then Dobby and Winky were married shortly afterward and then the two elves went to live happily with Harry Potter and eventually they would have more members of their family. But that is another story.


End file.
